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THE 
EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

A SIMPLE ACCOUNT OF JAPAN 
AS IT WAS, IS, AND WILL BE 



BY 



H. B. MONTGOMERY 
If 



"THIS NATION IS THE DELIGHT OF MY SOUL" 

ST. FRANCIS XAVIER 



WITH NINETEEN ILLUSTRATIONS 




JUL 22 1909 

Library, Navy Dep't, 



g i > - " A 



CHICAGO 
A. C. McCLURG & CO. 

LONDON : METHUEN & CO. 
1909 



Mi 



69 

DEC 19 1945 

8wial RtMN Olvtolw 
ntLtewyif 



PREFACE 

ON my return from another visit to Japan a few months 
ago I found those persons in this country with whom 
I was brought into close association extremely curious and 
strangely ignorant regarding that ancient Empire. Despite 
the multitude of books which have of late years been pub- 
lished about Japan and things Japanese a correct knowledge 
of the country and the people is, so far as I can judge, 
altogether lacking in England. Indeed the multiplicity of 
books may have something to do with that fact, as many 
of them have been written by persons whose knowledge, 
acquired in the course of a flying visit, was, to say the least, 
perfunctory, and who had no opportunities for viewing the 
life of the people from within and forming a sound judg- 
ment on many matters upon which the writers have 
dogmatically pronounced. I, accordingly, came to the 
conclusion not only that there was room for one more book 
on Japan, but that another book was greatly needed — a book 
not technical, historical, abstruse or recondite, but a book 
describing in simple language Japan as it was, is, and will 
be. This is the task I set before myself when I commenced 
to write this volume, and the reader must be the judge to 
what extent I have been successful in the accomplishment 



vi THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

thereof. I have touched but h'ghtly on the material 
development of the country of recent years. I know from 
experience that though statistics are the fad of a few they 
are caviare to the great mass of the public. Nor have I 
dealt at all with politics or political parties in new Japan. 
It is, I think, unfortunate that the Japanese people, in 
adopting or adapting English institutions, should have 
introduced the political party system so much in evidence 
in Great Britain and other European countries. Whether 
that system works well in the West, where it has been in 
existence for centuries and is not always taken over- 
seriously by party politicians themselves, is a question 
upon which I shall express no opinion. But I think it is 
problematical whether such a system is well adapted for 
an Oriental people, possessed of and permeated by an 
ancient civilisation — a people whose feelings, sentiments, 
modes of thought, prejudices and passions are so essen- 
tially different from those of Western nations. Be that 
as it may, Japanese politics find no place in this work. 
The morality or otherwise of the Japanese is a matter 
which has been much discussed and written about. The 
views of speakers and writers in regard thereto, so far as I 
have been able to ascertain them, have been largely affected 
by their prejudices or the particular standpoint from which 
they have regarded the matter. The result, in my opinion, 
has been that an entirely erroneous conception of the 
whole subject of Japanese morality has not only been 
formed but has been set forth in speech or writing, and a 
grave injustice has been done to the Japanese in this 



PREFACE vii 

matter, to say nothing of the entirely false view of the whole 
question which has been promulgated. In this book I have 
endeavoured to deal with this thorny subject, so far as it 
can be dealt with in a book, free from prejudice or pre- 
conceived ideas of any kind. I have simply confined 
myself to facts, and have endeavoured to represent the 
whole matter as it appears to the Japanese and to morality 
according to the Japanese standard. 

I have deemed it necessary to deal at some length 
with the various phases of Japanese art, which it is no 
exaggeration to say has permeated the whole nation so 
that the Japanese may truthfully be termed the most 
artistic people in the world. Of course it is impossible to 
deal exhaustively in a work of this kind with Japanese art. 
I have, however, endeavoured to describe the principal art 
industries of the country and to set forth what I may term 
the catholicity of art in Japan. I have also dealt with the 
question how far art has been affected by the Europeanising 
of the nation which has taken place of recent years, and 
the effect thereof 

The religion of the Japanese, the Constitution, the 
home life of the people, the Army and Navy, the financial 
position of the country are all subjects treated as fully 
as possible, inasmuch as they are matters essential to be 
understood in order to realise the Japan of to-day. The 
Japan of the future I have attempted to forecast in two 
final chapters. 

But the Japan of to-day and the Japan of the future can 
neither be understood nor realised unless the reader have 



viii THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

in his mind some idea as to the Japan of the past — not the 
barbaric or uncivilised Japan brought into contact with 
civilisation and suddenly discarding its barbarism, which is, 
I fear, the conception many persons still have, but, as I 
have sought to show, a highly civilised country holding itself 
aloof from European influences and excluding, so long as 
possible, the European invasion of its shores just because 
it had convinced itself by painful experience that Euro- 
pean ideas and manners and methods were undesirable 
and unsuitable for a great island nation which possessed 
and cherished a civilisation of its own, had high artistic 
ideas and ideals, had its own code of morals, its own 
conception of chivalry, and was, on the whole, undoubtedly 
happy, contented, and prosperous. I trust the chapter I 
have written on this subject will tend to dispel many 
erroneous ideas. 

The book is the result of my own investigations, and 
the opinions expressed therein are entirely my own. I 
have, however, read nearly every work on Japan that has 
appeared in recent years, and when the views put forward 
in any of these have not coincided with my own I have 
endeavoured, by impartial investigation and inquiry, to 
arrive at a correct conclusion in the matter. No doubt 
some of my views and opinions will be questioned and 
criticised, but I claim to have written this book with a 
mind free from prejudices of any kind. I have sought 
to depict Japan as it really is, not the Japan seen through 
glasses of various colours, of which, I think, the public 

has had enough. - 

H. B. M. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

PREFACE ....... V 

CHAPTER 

I. A GLIMPSE AT THE PAST . . . .1 

II. THE COUNTRY : ITS PHYSICAL FEATURES— PRODUCTS — 

FAUNA — FLORA, ETC. . . . . . 17 

III. THE JAPANESE RACE AND ITS LANGUAGE . . 29 

IV. THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN, THEIR INFLUENCES AND 

EFFECTS . . . . . . '39 

V. THE CONSTITUTION — THE CROWN AND THE HOUSES 

OF PARLIAMENT . . . . . -49 

VI. THE PEOPLE, THEIR LIFE AND HABITS . . .63 

VII. TRADE, COMMERCE, AND INDUSTRIES . . .80 

VIII. JAPAN'S FINANCIAL BURDENS AND RESOURCES . . 90 

IX. EDUCATION ...... I02 

X. THE JAPANESE ARMY AND NAVY . . • H? 

XI. JAPANESE ART — INTRODUCTORY — LACQUER AND 

PORCELAIN . . . . . .131 

XII. JAPANESE ART — SCULPTURE — METAL WORK — PAINTING I49 

XIII. JAPANESE ARCHITECTURE . . .167 

ix 



THE EMPIEE OF THE EAST 



CHAPTER 
XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 

XXII. 

XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXV. 



PAGE 

POSTAL AND OTHER MEANS OF COMMUNICATION . 1 76 

LAW AND ORDER . . . . . . 185 

LITERATURE AND THE DRAMA . . . .193 

NEWSPAPERS IN JAPAN ..... 202 

JAPANESE MORALITY . . . . .211 

JAPAN AND CHINA . . . . .221 

EUROPEANS IN JAPAN ..... 231 

A VISIT TO SOME BUDDHIST TEMPLES . . . 244 

THE AINOS ....... 250 

JAPAN AS IT IS TO-DAY . . . '. .258 

THE FUTURE OF JAPAN — PHYSICAL — MORAL — MENTAL 276 

THE FUTURE OF JAPAN — NATIONAL — POLITICAL— ITS 
INFLUENCE ON THE WORLD .... 288 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 
. 30 

. 48 

. 72 

. 89 

. no 



A STAR OF THE EAST .... 

From a Print by Toshikata 

THE SWEET SCENT OF THE CHERRY BLOSSOM . 

From a Print by Hiroshige 

A CHERRY BLOSSOM PARTY .... 

From a Print by Hiroshige 

STREET SCENE ON NEW YEAR'S DAY 

From a Print by Hiroshige 

RICE PLANTING, PROVINCE OF HOKI 

From a Print by Hiroshige 

AMATEUR CONCHOLOGISTS ..... 
From a Print by Hiroshige 

VIEW OF FUSI-VAMA FROM A TEA HOUSE 
From a Print by Hiroshige 

KUTANI EARTHENWARE, DECORATED WITH POLYCHROME 

ENAMELS. EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY . 

i 

INCENSE-BURNER, AWATA FAYENCE. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ) 

From " The Arts of Japan," by Edward Dillon 

BRONZE INCENSE-BURNER AND SMALL FLOWER-VASE, 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY . . . . , 

From " The Arts of Japan," by Edward Dillon 

KAKEMONO ON PAPER. ATTRIBUTED TO MATAHEI . \ 



138 



146 



154 



KAKEMONO ON PAPER. ATTRIBUTED TO SHIMMAN, UKIYO ( 
SCHOOL. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY . . . J 

From " The Arts of Japan," by Edward Dillon 

xi 



\ 160 



^ 



xii THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

FACING PAGE 

TEA HOUSE, NEAR TOKIO . . . • • -170 

From a Print by Hiroshige 

SERIAL TRANSPORT : BASKET SLUNG ON ROPES, PROVINCE OF 
HIDA ......■• 



182 



From a Print by Hiroshige 

A LABOUR OF LOVE . . . • • • 19^ 

From a Print by Toshil<ata 

THE ETERNAL FEMININE . . . . • • 2l8 

From a Print by Toshikata 

A MINISTERING ANGEL ...... 242 

From a Print by Toshikata 

FIREWORKS IN TOKIO (SUMMER) . . • • • 264 

From a Print by Hiroshige 

A SIGN OF THE TIMES ..... 



. 278 



THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

CHAPTER I 
A GLIMPSE AT THE PAST 

1HAVE seen it stated in a popular handbook that 
Japan possesses a written history extending over 
two thousand five hundred years, while its sovereigns 
have formed an unbroken dynasty since 660 B.C., but 
that the "authentic history begins about 400 A.D." 
" Authentic history " is, I consider, not a very apt 
phrase in this connection. Most Japanese history is 
legendary, and authenticity in history, Japanese or 
European^ even much later than 400 A.D., is hopeless ^^ 
to look for. I have no intention of leading my readers 
into, as I should find a difficulty in extricating them 
from, the mazes of Japanese history at any date. I 
simply propose to give them a glimpse of Japan as it 
has appeared to Europeans since it was first " discovered " 
by three storm-tossed Portuguese sailors about the year 
1542. I say "discovered" with full knowledge of the 
fact that Marco Paolo, as early as 1275, dictated to a 
friend when imprisoned at Genoa that stirring narrative, 
" Maravigliose Cose," which, by the way, was not printed 
B 1 



4 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

and a half centuries, that no Japanese should leave his 
country on any pretence whatever, and no foreigner be 
permitted to land therein. Prior to this edict the Japanese 
had been enterprising sailors and had extended their 
voyages to many distant lands. What, it might be asked, 
was the reason of or occasion for this violent change in 
the attitude of the Japanese to Christianity and the pre- 
sence of Europeans in their midst? It is impossible, at 
this length of time, to arrive at a correct answer to this 
question, largely mixed up as it has been with the odium 
theologicmn. We have been told that the result was 
greatly or altogether due to the pride, arrogance, and 
avarice of the Roman Catholic priests ; to the pretensions 
of the Pope, which came to be regarded with suspicion by 
the feudatory princes of Japan, as also to the cupidity 
and cunning of the traders. How far any or all of these 
alleged causes were responsible for the change in Japanese 
opinion I shall not venture to pronounce. Suffice it to 
remark that, whatever the cause, there must have been 
some powerful, impelling influence at work to induce the 
nation not only to cast out the stranger within its gates, 
but to exclude him for two and a half centuries, and veto 
any inhabitant of Japan leaving its shores and thus being 
brought into contact with, and stand the chance of being 
contaminated by, the foreigner. We may regret the 
destruction of Christianity in Japan, but at the same 
time we may, I think, accept the fact that the uprising 
of Japan against the foreigner at the close of the six- 
teenth century was simply the result of the gorge which 
had arisen in the nation against the foreigner's manners, 
methods, and morals, his trampling underfoot of national 
prejudices and ideas, his cupidity, his avarice, his cruelty, 
and his attempt to impose on Japanese civilisation a 



A GLIMPSE AT THE PAST 5 

veneer which it did not desire and deemed it was much 
better without. It must be remembered that the mission- 
aries and the traders had a common nationality, and that 
the Japan of the sixteenth century did not find it possible 
to differentiate between them. 

Down to the nineteenth century we have to rely for our 
knowledge of Japan and the Japanese on the narratives 
of the few travellers who managed to visit that country 
more or less by stealth, or from the information derived 
from Europeans serving in the Dutch factory at Nagasaki. 
Every Englishman has heard of Will Adams and his 
Japanese wife, but though his career was romantic and 
interesting it has added but little to our knowledge of 
Japan at the time of his visit thereto. In 1727 Dr. Kaem- 
fer's work on Japan was published. Kaemfer had been 
physician to the Dutch factory at Nagasaki, and, accord- 
ingly, had some opportunities of studying Japanese life 
and character. His book in the original form is rare, but 
I am glad to say that a cheap edition, a reprint of the 
English edition produced by the Royal Society in 1727, 
has recently been published in this country. Kaemfer's 
work is spoiled and its utility or reliability largely im- 
paired by the fanciful theories put forward by the author 
respecting the origin of the Japanese. Much of his infor- 
mation is, of course, mere hearsay, and a great deal of it, 
by the light of what we now know, is not only mislead- 
ing but nonsensical. A considerable amount of space 
is devoted by Kaemfer to chimerical animals, and 
he dilates upon the awful sanctity that surrounds the 
person of the Emperor. " There is," he remarks, " such 
a Holiness ascribed to all the parts of his Body that he 
dares not cut off neither his hair, nor his beard, nor his 
nails. However, lest he should grow too dirty, they may 



6 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

clean him in the night when he is asleep ; because they 
say that what is taken from his Body at that time had 
been stolen from him, and that such a theft does not 
prejudice his Holiness or Dignity." In a notice of this 
new edition of Kaemfer's work I have seen it asserted 
that the book is the foundation of nearly all that was 
known or written of Japan till the last twenty-five years. 
How such a statement as this came to be published I 
quite fail to comprehend. There was plenty of literature 
in reference to Japan far more reliable than Kaemfer's 
whimsical " yarns " at a much earlier period than twenty- 
five years back. Sir Rutherford Alcock's " The Capital of 
the Tycoon" was, I think, published in 1863. Sir Ruther- 
ford was the first resident British Minister in Japan, and 
his book remains a stirring and, making allowance for the 
author's prejudices on various matters, on the whole a 
vivid picture of Japan as it was in the early sixties. 
Alcock's book was followed by many others, and twenty- 
five years ago the world was so far from being dependent 
on Kaemfer for its knowledge of Japan that, as I have 
said, it had even then quite a library of recent and reliable 
books in regard to that country. 

Following Kaemfer, a little later in the eighteenth cen- 
tury, a Swedish physician, Thunberg by name, who also 
had been attached to the Dutch factory at Nagasaki, wrote 
a book undoubtedly interesting and of great value. That 
country, he remarks, is " in many respects a singular 
country, and with regard to customs and institutions 
totally different from Europe, or, I had almost said, 
from any other part of the world. Of all the nations that 
inhabit the three largest parts of the globe, the Japanese 
deserve to rank the first, and to be compared with the 
Europeans ; and although in many points they must yield 



A GLIMPSE AT THE PAST 7 

the palm to the latter, yet in various other respects they 
may with great justice be preferred to them. Here, 
indeed, as well as in other countries, are found both useful 
and pernicious establishments, both rational and absurd 
institutions ; yet still we must admire the steadiness 
which constitutes the national character, the immutability 
which reigns in the administration of their laws and in the 
exercise of their public functions, the unwearied assiduity 
of this nation to do and to promote what is useful, and 
a hundred other things of a similar nature. That so 
numerous a people as this should love so ardently and 
so universally (without even a single exception to the 
contrary) their native country, their Government, and each 
other — that the whole country should be, as it were, 
enclosed, so that no native can get out, nor foreigner 
enter in, without permission — that their laws should have 
remained unaltered for several thousand years — and that 
justice should be administered without partiality or respect 
of persons — that the Governments can neither become 
despotic nor evade the laws in order to grant pardons or 
do other acts of mercy — that the monarch and all his 
subjects should be clad alike in a particular national dress 
— that no fashions should be adopted from abroad, nor new 
ones invented at home — that no foreign war should have 
been waged for centuries past — that a great variety of 
religious sects should live in peace and harmony together 
— that hunger and want should be almost unknown, or at 
least known but seldom, — all this must appear improbable, 
and to many as impossible as it is strictly true, and 
deserving of the utmost attention." He goes on to say, 
" If the laws in this country are rigid, the police are 
equally vigilant, while discipline and good order are 
scrupulously observed. The happy consequences of this 



8 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

are extremely visible and important, for hardly any 
country exhibits fewer instances of vice. And as no 
respect whatever is paid to persons, and at the same time 
the laws preserve their pristine and original purity, with- 
out any alterations, explanations, and misconstructions, 
the subjects not only imbibe, as they grow up, an infallible 
knowledge of what ought or ought not to be done, but are 
likewise enlightened by the example and irreproachable 
conduct of their superiors in age. 

" Most crimes are punished with death — a sentence which 
is inflicted with less regard to the magnitude of the crime 
than to the audacity of the attempt to transgress the 
hallowed laws of the empire, and to violate justice, which 
together with religion they consider as the most sacred 
things in the whole land. Fines and pecuniary mulcts 
they regard as equally repugnant to justice and reason, as 
the rich are thereby freed from all punishment — a pro- 
cedure which to them appears the height of absurdity. 

" In the towns it often happens that the inhabitants of 
a whole street are made to suffer for the malpractice of a 
single individual, the master of a house for the faults of 
his domestics, and parents for those of their children, in 
proportion to the share they may have had in the trans- 
action. In Europe, which boasts a purer religion and a 
more enlightened philosophy, we very rarely see those 
punished who have debauched and seduced others, never 
see parents and relatives made to suffer for neglecting the 
education of their children and kindred, at the same time 
that these heathens see the justice and propriety of such 
punishment." Dealing with agriculture, the Swedish 
physician remarked : " Agriculture is in the highest esteem 
with the Japanese, insomuch that (the most barren and un- 
tractable mountains excepted) one sees here the surface of 



A GLIMPSE AT THE PAST 9 

the earth cultivated all over the country, and most of the 
mountains and hills up to their very tops. Neither rewards 
nor encouragements are necessary in a country where the 
tillers of the ground are considered as the most useful 
class of citizens and where they do not groan under 
various oppressions, which in other countries have hindered, 
and ever must hinder, the progress of agriculture. The 
duties paid by the farmer of his corn in kind are indeed 
very heavy, but in other respects he cultivates his land 
with greater freedom than the lord of a manor in Sweden. 
He is not hindered two days together at a time, in conse- 
quence of furnishing relays of horses, by which he perhaps 
earns a groat and often returns with the loss of his horses ; 
he is not dragged from his field and plough to transport a 
prisoner or a deserter to the next castle ; nor are his time 
and property wasted in making roads, building bridges, 
almshouses, parsonage-houses, and magazines. He knows 
nothing of the impediments and inconveniences which 
attend the maintenance and equipments of horses and foot 
soldiers. And what contributes still more to his happiness, 
and leaves sufficient scope for his industry in cultivating 
his land is this — that he has only one master, viz., his feudal 
lord, without being under the commands of a host of 
masters, as with us. No parcelling out of the land forbids 
him to improve to the least advantage the portion he pos- 
sesses, and no right of commonage, belonging to many, 
prevents each from deriving profit from his share. All are 
bound to cultivate their land, and if a husbandman cannot 
annually cultivate a certain portion of his fields he forfeits 
them, and another who can is at liberty to cultivate them. 
Meadows are not to be met with in the whole country ; on 
the contrary, every spot of ground is made use of either 
for corn-fields or else for plantations of esculent-rooted 



10 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

vegetables : so that the land is neither wasted upon 
extensive meadows for the support of cattle and saddle- 
horses, nor upon large and unprofitable plantations of 
tobacco ; nor is it sown with seed for any other still less 
necessary purpose ; which is the reason that the whole 
country is very thickly inhabited and populous, and can 
without difficulty give maintenance to all its innumerable 
inhabitants." 

Let us now take a step, a long step, forward in time 
from the Swedish physician relating his impressions in 
the seventeenth century, to an American in the eighteenth 
century delivering his opinions on Japan and the Japanese 
as viewed from the American standpoint at that period. 
"The sitter is the same, and, what is more, he sits on his 
heels to-day just as his grandfather did to Thunberg, yet 
it is hard to see any points of resemblance — a lesson to all 
theologians and politicians who still indulge the dreams that 
uniformity of opinion on the plainest matters of fact and 
observation can ever be attained among men, however 
honest and conscientious they may be in their efforts after 
unity. The Chinese proverb with more wisdom declares, 
* Truth is one, but opinions are many.' . 

" All officials serve in pairs, as spies upon each other, 
and this pervades the entire polity of Japan. It is a 
government of espionage. Everybody is watched. No 
man knows who are the secret spies around him, even 
though he may be and is acquainted with those that are 
official. The emperors themselves are not exempt ; 
governors, grand councillors, vassal princes, all are under 
the eye of an everlasting unknown police. This wretched 
system is even extended to the humblest of the citizens. 
Every town is divided into collections of five families, and 
every member of such a division is personally responsible 



A GLIMPSE AT THE PAST 11 

for the conduct of the others ; everything which occurs, 
therefore, out of the ordinary course in any one of these is 
instantly reported by the other four to save themselves 
from censure. The Ziogoon (Tycoon) has his minions 
about the Mikado and the Grand Council have theirs about 
the Ziogoon. And the cowardice engendered by such 
ceaseless distrust necessarily leads to cruelty in penalties. 
When an official has offended, or even when in his 
department there has been any violation of law, although 
beyond his power of prevention, so sure is he of the 
punishment of death, that he anticipates it by ripping up 
his own body rather than be delivered over to the 
executioner and entailing disgrace and ruin on all his 
family. There cannot under such a system be anything 
like judicious legislation founded on enquiry and adapted 
to the ever-varying circumstances of life. As Government 
functionaries they lie and practise artifice to save them- 
selves from condemnation by the higher powers : it is 
their vocation. As private gentlemen they are frank, 
truthful, and hospitable." 

Taking a further step and coming down to the year 
1877, I have before me, as I write, the private letter of a 
naval officer of an impressionable age visiting Japan for 
the first time and giving his opinions thereof, at a period 
when Japan was just beginning to feel really at work 
the distinct influences of estern civilisation — the begin- 
ning, in fact, of the extraordinary metamorphosis which 
has been witnessed of recent years. He remarks : " Prob- 
ably to the traveller seeking the marvellous and desiring 
the beautiful, there is no more interesting country to pay a 
visit to than Japan. In something under a decade that 
country astonished, and, at first, rather amused the civilised 
world by emerging from the acme of barbarism to the 



12 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

extremes of civilisation. It was but a very few years ago 
that a foreigner could not land in the country unless 
accompanied by a Government escort. But now that is 
all changed. The foreigner is welcomed, his habits and 
religion are not alone tolerated but respected ; his dress is 
copied ''to an extreme that indeed proves imitation to be 
the sincerest flattery, and but for the olive complexion, 
flat nose and dark hair, a Japanese gentleman of the period 
is very little different from his English contemporary. 
There is a tendency I find among a good many persons, 
whose ideas on the subject of race and geography are 
slightly mixed, to confound the Japanese with the Chinese, 
and to imagine that the two names indicate no greater 
difference than at present exist between an Englishman 
and an Irishman. The fact, however, is that a greater 
difiference'exists among these two nationalities than can be 
either imagined or described, and, considering their con- 
tiguity, it is indeed surprising that they have scarcely 
a habit or a pursuit in common. The mind of the modern 
Japanese is progressive and acquisitive. The mind of the 
Chinaman of the nineteenth century, as far as he allows it 
to be seen, is as torpid and retrogressive, as his ancestors 
of the Confucian period. 

"Up to the year 1868 Japan was governed jointly by a 
Tycoon and a Mikado together with a council of the 
Daimios, or great feudal princes, in whose hands all real 
power rested. The spiritual sovereign was the Mikado, 
nominally the chief ruler, the Tycoon being considered his 
first subject. All enactments required his sanction. The 
office of the Tycoon was hereditary and he gradually 
absorbed all the powers of the State. In 1868 a revolution 
occurred which culminated in the overthrow of the spiritual 
head and the seating of the Tycoon on the throne as an 






^^"^ (3I1.IMPSE AT THE PAST 13 

hereditary prince with the title of Mikado. There is now 
no such person as a Tycoon in Japan. The insurrection 
of 1868 also saw the downfall of the Daimios or feudal 
princes of Japan. These princes had each standing armies 
of their own, and administered justice in their own terri- 
tories. Their retainers were the famous two-sworded men 
so long a terror to Europeans, and who strongly objected 
to any intercourse with foreigners, probably foreseeing its 
inevitable result. In 1868 the whole of these ferocious 
men were disarmed, and a standing army modelled on the 
French fashion established for the defence of the Empire. 
The Japanese Navy was organised about the same time by 
an English officer, and at first consisted of a few obsolete 
American and English men-of-war. That, however, is 
now a thing of the past, the Japanese Government having 
during the past few years spent many millions in purchasing 
modern ironclads and other vessels of the most approved 
type, and the Japanese Navy bids fair before long to become 
a power in the Far East. 

" Concerning the oft-debated question of Japanese 
morality I can say little. Their ideas on the subject are, 
to put it mildly, somewhat lax, and would no doubt shock 
any one strongly imbued with morality as it is in vogue 
(theoretically) in European countries. That there is not 
that privacy between the sexes which prevails in other 
countries may be indicated by the fact that men and 
women make their ablutions together in the public wash- 
houses. Nevertheless the Japanese have a code of morality 
peculiar to themselves, and any infidelity on the part of a 
woman to her husband is punished with severity. 

" The great drawback to the prosperity of Japan is a 
matter that prevails in some more ancient civilised lands, 
viz., an enormous issue of paper-money. Young Japan, 



14 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

finding it easy to print notes to pay its obligations, printed 
them to the extent of twenty millions sterling in all sizes 
from 5 cents to lOO dollars. The consequence is that this 
paper-money has depreciated in value to the extent of 

1 5 per cent. The Government, however, have seen their 
mistake, and are gradually calling it in, and have established 
a very fine mint with a gold and silver coinage. Insurrec- 
tions have also been a drag on Japan in its progress. The 
Prince of Satsuma, one of the most powerful of the ancient 
Daimios, has never acknowledged the present system of 
government and has periodically rebelled against it. This 
year a serious rebellion broke out at Kagoshima, and was 
not quelled without great loss of life and a heavy expendi- 
ture. His followers behaved with great fanaticism, many 
of them loading themselves with gunpowder rushing into 
the midst of the enemy and setting fire to the powder, 
killing themselves by so doing, but also, to the admiration 
of their less ardent comrades, killing numbers of the 
enemy. 

" Against no ancient custom has the Japanese Govern- 
ment more set its face than tattooing. Any persons in 
Japan now either allowing themselves to be tattooed or 
performing the operation on any one else are liable to 
imprisonment. Blacking the teeth, a custom prevalent 
among the women on being married, is rapidly dying out, 
being discouraged by the authorities." 

The glimpses of Japan shown us by Thunberg and the 
American I have quoted prove clearly enough, even were 
it not amplified by a host of other testimony I have not 
space to refer to, that the Japan of the sixteenth, seven- 
teenth, eighteenth, and early part of the nineteenth 
centuries was a highly civilised country in which law and 
order reigned supreme, where respect for authority was 



A GLIMPSE AT THE PAST 15 

marked, the standard of comfort, if not high, was at 
any rate sufficient, the domestic relations and family life 
were almost ideal, clean living was the custom, crime was 
at a minimum, education was universal, amusements were 
plentiful, the artistic feeling and instincts were not the cult 
of a class but were shared by the common people. This 
was the nation, self-contained and self-satisfied, that some 
persons, like the young naval officer from whom I have 
quoted, gravely affirm to have been steeped in barbarism 
until it came under Western influences and went in for 
frock-coats and silk hats for the men, Paris costumes for 
the women, and an Army and Navy on European lines. If 
these be the factors which constitute civilisation I admit 
that Japan has only recently been civilised. Being of 
opinion, however, that civilisation does not consist in cos- 
tumery, but is a refining and educating influence, I prefer 
to regard Japan as a country of more ancient civilisation 
than Great Britain, which has of recent years determined 
to tack on to that civilisation some Western manners and 
customs and facilities. Many of Japan's greatest thinkers, 
a few Western philosophers who can look beyond a 
costume, the telegraph or the telephone, are strongly of 
opinion that in the process of modern development Japan 
has not improved either morally or materially, and that, 
regarded through the dry light of philosophy, her preten- 
sions to be considered a highly civilised nation were 
greater half a century back than they are at the present 
moment. Upon that matter my readers must form their 
own opinion. It is a question, the answer to which largely 
depends upon the point of view from which it is regarded 
and the factors taken into or left out of account. 

In the first year of the Meiji (1868) the Emperor, in an 
edict, laid down clearly and concisely the lines on which 



16 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

he and his advisers had determined that Japan should for 
the future be governed. " The old uncivilised way shall 
be replaced by the eternal principles of the universe," 
" The best knowledge shall be sought throughout the 
world so as to promote the imperial welfare." " The 
eternal principles of the universe " is a resonant phrase 
needing interpretation. The rulers of Japan to-day, if they 
were interrogated on the subject, would probably reply that 
the record of Japan for over thirty-eight years past is the 
practical interpretation of the Emperor's cryptic utterance. 
Be that as it may, the ink was hardly dry on the Imperial 
edict before Japan laid herself out with earnestness, not to 
say enthusiasm, to carry into effect the principles enunciated 
in the edict. The whole country was quickly in a positive 
ferment of energy. The brightest intellects among its 
youth were despatched to foreign lands to acquire know- 
ledge and wisdom to be applied at home in due course, 
education was taken in hand, so also was the reorganisation 
of the Army and Navy, and railways, telegraphs, and various 
other accessories of European civilisation were introduced 
into the country. Japan, in a word, became quickly trans- 
formed and, being unable any longer to keep the foreigner 
out, she determined to utilise him and in the future fight 
him, should fighting be necessary, with his own weapons, 
intellectual rather than material, but not omitting the 
material. Thirty-eight years and more have elapsed since 
the issue of the Imperial edict referred to, and this book is 
designed to show what results have flowed therefrom, 
along what lines the development of Japan has proceeded, 
and what are the position and prospects of that country 
to-day. 



CHAPTER II 

THE COUNTRY — ITS PHYSICAL FEATURES — PRODUCTS — 
FAUNA— FLORA, ETC. 

THE Empire of Japan (a corruption of Nippon, the 
native name) is composed of four large islands — 
Honshiu, Shikoku, Kiusiu, and Yesso, besides some 
thousands of smaller isles. The Kurile Isles, north of 
Yesso, and in the neighbourhood of Kamschatka, have 
been incorporated in the Empire since 1875, and the Loo- 
Choo Islands, some 500 miles south-west of Japan's 
southern extremity, since 1876. The great island of 
Formosa, situated off the coast of China, was ceded to 
Japan as the outcome of the Chino-Japanese War in 1895, 
while as the result of the recent conflict with Russia, Japan 
has obtained back the southern half of the large island of 
Sakhalin, which formerly entirely belonged to her, as well 
as Port Arthur and Dalny on the mainland, not to speak 
of the preponderating influence she has obtained in Korea, 
which is now practically under the suzerainty of Japan. 
The population of the Empire according to the last census 
was about forty-seven millions, and, like that of Great 
Britain, it is annually increasing. The proximity of Japan 
to the Asiatic Continent, despite the lessons in geography 
which the late war afforded, is not, I think, generally 

c 17 



18 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

understood. The nearest point of the Japanese coast 
is only lOO miles distant from Korea, while between 
the two lies the important island of Tsu-shima, which 
Japan found so useful as a strategic position during the 
war with Russia. The island of Sakhalin, the southern 
portion of which, as I have said, has lately passed into the 
possession of Japan, is about 20 miles distant from the 
northern part of Yesso, while at some places the island 
is only separated from the Russian mainland by 5 or 6 
miles of water. The distance between Hakodate, in Yesso, 
and the great Russian port of Vladivostock is somewhere 
about 200 miles. This contiguity of Japan to the Asiatic 
Continent has already had a marked effect on the politics 
of the world, and in the future, if I mistake not, is likely 
to be a preponderating factor therein. The area of Japan 
is about half as large again as that of the United Kingdom. 
The southern extremity of the country is in latitude 31° N., 
the northern in latitude 45J0 N. 

The Japanese islands are undoubtedly of volcanic origin, 
and many of the volcanoes in the country are still more or 
less active. The general conformation of the land leads 
one to suppose that the islands are the summits of mountain 
ranges which some thousands of years back had their bases 
submerged by the rising of the sea or else had by degrees 
settled down beneath the surface of the ocean. The general 
characteristic of the country is mountainous, and only 
about one-sixth of the total area is in cultivation. Fuji- 
yama, the loftiest mountain, for which the Japanese have 
a peculiar veneration and which has been immortalised in 
the art of the country, has an altitude of 12,730 feet. The 
next in height. Mount Mitake, ascends some 9,000 feet, 
and there are many others of 5,000 feet or more. Japan 
has from time to time been ravaged by, and indeed still is 



THE COUNTRY 19 

subject to, terrible earthquakes. These dire calamities 
seem to recur at regular intervals. The Japanese islands 
appear to be in the centre of great volcanic disturbances — a 
fact which probably accounts for those seismic outbreaks 
which periodically devastate considerable tracts of the 
country and cause tremendous havoc to life and property. 
The written records, extending back some 1,400 or 1,500 
years, clearly prove that earthquakes even more terrible in 
their effects than any that have taken place in recent times 
were of frequent occurrence. It is, of course, possible that 
these records may be inaccurate or have been largely 
exaggerated, but they at any rate tend to show that those 
great cosmic forces which are popularly termed earthquakes 
have been constantly at work in Japan ever since any 
written records have been preserved and no doubt long 
anterior to that time. 

As the islands are narrow and mountainous there are no 
great rivers and none available for important navigation. 
None of the rivers exceed 200 miles in length. Although 
Japan is situated much further south than Great Britain, 
its northern extremity being in about the same latitude as 
Cornwall, its climate is, on the whole, not unlike that of 
this country. Of course the climate of such a mountainous 
country and one extending over 14 degrees of latitude 
varies considerably. That of the island of Yesso, for 
example, is in winter rigorous to a degree, a fact in some 
measure caused by a cold current which flows down its 
eastern shores from the Sea of Okohotsk. Professor Rein, 
who has given great attention to the matter of the Japanese 
climate, has remarked in reference thereto : " The climate 
of Japan reflects the characteristics of that of the neigh- 
bouring continent, and exhibits like that two great annual 
contrasts — a hot, damp summer and a cold relatively dry 



20 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

winter; these two seasons lie under the sway of the 
monsoons, but the neighbouring seas weaken the effects of 
these winds and mitigate their extremes in such a manner 
that neither the summer heat nor the cold of winter attain 
the same height in Japan as in China at the same latitudes. 
Spring and autumn are extremely agreeable seasons ; the 
oppressive summer heat does not last long, and in winter 
the contrast between the nightly frosts and the midday 
heat, produced by considerable insulation but still more by 
the raw northerly winds, causes frequent chills, though the 
prevailing bright sky makes the season of the year much 
more endurable than in many other regions where the 
winter cold is equal. As a fact the climate of Japan 
agrees very well with most Europeans, so that people have 
already begun to look upon certain localities as climatic 
watering-places where the inhabitant of Hong Kong and 
Shanghai can find refuge from the oppressive heat of 
summer and invigorate his health." 

The mean annual temperature of Tokio is about 56°. 
The lowest temperature is in January or February, when 
the thermometer seldom falls below 25°, the highest in 
August, when it sometimes rises to 95° or 100° in the 
shade, the average being 82°. The Japanese suffer a good 
deal from the effects of the wintry weather, bronchial, 
chest, and rheumatic affections being prevalent. The 
dwellings of the people, somewhat flimsy in construction 
as they are, are not well adapted to withstand the effects 
of a low temperature. On the whole the people must be 
pronounced to be extremely healthy — a fact probably due 
to their scrupulous cleanliness, to the excellent ventilation 
of their houses, and, as regards those living in the towns, 
to the wide and well-kept streets where nothing offensive 
is allowed to remain. The country has, however, from 



THE COUNTRY 21 

time to time been subject to epidemics introduced from 
without, cholera and the plague having more than once 
carried death throughout the length and breadth of the 
land. 

Those circular storms known as cyclones in the Indian 
Ocean and typhoons in further Eastern seas have from time 
to time wrought great devastation in Japan. Fortunately 
these revolving storms are of brief duration, and in the 
neighbourhood of Japan they do not so frequently occur 
as in the China Sea. 

Japan is well provided with good harbours, that of 
Nagasaki in especial being one of the finest in the world. 
Sheltered completely by lofty and beautiful hills, with 
deep water throughout, it is an ideal anchorage. Until 
recently foreign trade was confined to the treaty ports ; 
but as the country has now been completely thrown open, 
there is no doubt that the many fine harbours which Japan 
possesses, and which so far have hardly been utilised at all, 
will in due course become the centres of great commercial 
activity. The Inland Sea — the beautiful Mediterranean of 
Japan— abounds with excellent anchorages, most of which 
have hitherto been only entered by an occasional junk. 

Regarding the mineral wealth of the country, it is im- 
possible to speak with any precision. It was not until 
after the Revolution of 1868 that the mining industry 
assumed importance in Japan. At first the Government 
itself owned several mines, but these were not financially 
successful, and they were after a time disposed of to private 
owners. The old mining regulations have recently been 
superseded by a new mining law. In accordance with this 
the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce is the official 
who permits, approves, cancels, or suspends the right of 
mining, whether permanently or on trial. I may, however, 



22 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

at once remark that the Japanese Government has not 
up to the present held out much encouragement to the 
speculative prospector. Gold is believed to exist in con- 
siderable quantities in Yesso, and as a matter of fact, 
although the amount mined is still small, it is annually- 
increasing. Coal is abundant in various parts of the 
country and the mines are extensively worked. In 1903 
there were over ten million tons of coal produced, and the 
quantity is at the present time assuredly very much greater. 
The coal is not of such a good quality as either Welsh or 
North Country, but there is a large and growing demand 
for it in the East, and coal is undoubtedly a highly im- 
portant part of Japan's latent wealth. Copper, a metal 
which is in increasing demand, exists in Japan in enormous 
quantities, and she promises at no very far-distant date to 
be the chief copper-producing country of the world. Iron 
and sulphur are also found, and there are many other 
minerals, some of which are more or less worked. The 
Japanese Mining Law, it may be interesting to relate, recog- 
nises the following minerals and mineral ores, which may 
accordingly be taken as existing in the country : Gold, 
silver, copper, lead, tin, hematite, antimony, quicksilver, zinc, 
iron, manganese and arsenic, plumbago, coal, kerosene, 
sulphur, bismuth, phosphorus, peat. 

Whatever the mineral wealth of Japan — and the extent 
and variety thereof are probably yet not fully realised — 
there can be no question as to the value of its aboreal pro- 
ducts. The lacquer-tree {rhus verniciferd)^ which furnishes 
the well-known Japanese lacquer, the paper mulberry, the 
elm, oak, maple, bamboo, camphor, and many other descrip- 
tions of trees, grow in abundance. The forests of Japan 
cover nearly 60 per cent, of the land. For some years after 
the Revolution there was a reduction in the wooded area, 



THE COUNTRY 23 

nearly four million acres having been cleared for occupa- 
tion. Of late years, however, forestry has been scientifically 
taken in hand, and about one and a half million acres have 
been replanted in districts which have not been found suit- 
able for farming. The climate of Japan varies so greatly 
that there is a corresponding variety in its trees. About 
eight hundred kinds of forest trees are suitable for cultiva- 
tion in Japan, varying from the palm and the bamboo to the 
fir and many other trees with which we are familiar in this 
country. 

The Japanese are above all things an agricultural people. 
The tobacco plant, the tea shrub, potatoes, rice, wheat, 
barley, millet, cotton, rape, and many cereals other than 
those I have mentioned are extensively cultivated. The 
great mass of the people of Japan live on the land, and 
though I think the tendency, as in Great Britain, is for the 
large towns to magnetically draw the dwellers in the 
country, nevertheless agriculture is still held in high esteem, 
and the peasant is content to dwell on the land and live by 
it. Rice is the staple food of the people, and it is grown 
everywhere ; indeed the yearly harvest of it affects the 
Japanese economy quite as much as, if not even more than, 
the wheat crop does that of Europe. The Japanese peasant 
is almost as dependent on rice as the Irish peasant used to 
be on potatoes. The water, so necessary for irrigating the 
land, is supplied by the streams and rivulets which are 
plentiful in the country. The Japanese agriculturist has 
long been famous for the admirable manner in which he 
keeps and tills his farm. The fields are clean as regards 
weeds, and order and neatness are perceptible everywhere. 
The labour is almost entirely manual, and men, women, 
and children all take part in the work. 

Fruit is abundant in Japan, but it is for the most part 



24 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

of an inferior quality. Grapes, apples, pears, plums, 
peaches, chestnuts, persimmons, oranges, figs, lemons, 
citrons, melons, and wild strawberries are all grown, but 
except as regards the grapes I cannot speak in laudatory 
terms of Japanese fruit. The flowers of many fruit trees 
seem more appreciated than the fruit itself 

The floral kingdom is rich, beautiful and varied. Prob- 
bably in no other part of the world are flowers so greatly 
appreciated as in Japan. They enter largely into various 
popular festivals. The Japanese, as most people know, 
excel in the art of gardening and the dwarfing of trees and 
shrubs. The flower vendor is a familiar sight, and there is 
never any lack of buyers. The poorest householder will 
do without anything almost rather than deprive himself of 
flowers. These enter largely into the religious services of 
the' people, and are also extensively placed on the graves 
of the departed. Flowers, indeed, play an important part 
in the lives of the Japanese. Japan has long been famous 
for the great number of its evergreens. A large number 
of the plants growing wild are of this class, so that even 
in winter the land has not the bare appearance charac- 
teristic of European countries at that time of the year. 
Coniferous plants are abundant, many of them being 
peculiar to Japan. 

The coasts abound with fish of an excellent quality, and 
this, with rice, forms the staple diet of the people. Tea is, 
as I have said, largely cultivated, and indeed may be re- 
garded as the national beverage. It has been cultivated 
in the country for over two thousand years. It is an 
article of faith in Japan that tea strengthens the body. It 
is drunk everywhere and at all times, without either milk 
or sugar — the true way, I think, in which to appreciate 
its flavour. The tea-house in Japan occupies the same 



THE COUNTRY 25 

position as the public-house in this country, but it has 
many advantages over the latter. In the towns and some 
other parts of Japan, sake — a spirit distilled from rice — is 
drunk, and when the Japanese has to any extent been 
Europeanised or brought into contact with Europeans, he 
affects a taste for European varieties of alcohol. On the 
whole, however, the people are distinctly a sober race. 

The principal towns are Tokio, the capital, with a 
population of about one and half millions, Osaka, having 
a population nearly as great, Kyoto, the ancient capital, 
Nagoya, Kobe, Yokohama, and Nagasaki. Yokohama may 
be regarded as the European headquarters ; indeed it is 
largely a European town, while Nagasaki has more than 
any other been under European influences, the Dutch 
having, as I have already stated, had a factory there, in the 
suburb of Decima, continuously ever since the expulsion 
of foreigners from the country in the sixteenth century. 

Railway communication in Japan is a subject upon 
which much might be written. For many years there was 
only one line in the country — that between Yokohama and 
Tokio, about 22 miles in length. At the present time there 
are some 4,500 miles of railway open, and extensions are 
either in progress or in contemplation. Of the lines now 
being worked, about one-third are the property of the 
Government, the rest having been constructed by private 
enterprise. This dual system of ownership has its disad- 
vantages, and it will doubtless not be permitted to last. 
Railway construction has already had a considerable effect 
on the opening up of the country, and as the construction 
is extended the development of Japan will doubtless 
proceed in an increasing ratio. 

The scenery of Japan has provided a theme for so many 
pens that I do not feel inclined to do more than refer to it 



26 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

in passing. Much of the scenery is sublime but, truth to 
tell, its beauty, or perhaps it would be more correct to say 
the effect thereof on the sightseer, has been somewhat 
marred of recent years by the influx of those persons 
colloquially known as ^' globe trotters," the railway exten- 
sions to which I have referred, and the erection of large 
hotels run on European lines. Nikko, the incomparable, 
with its glorious scenery and its still more glorious temples, 
the meandering Daynogawa, the beauteous Lake Chiuzenji, 
on which a quarter of a century or so ago a European 
provided with a passport and having his headquarters at 
a neighbouring tea-house might gaze at his leisure, and 
meditate in a glorious silence broken only by the sound of 
the ripples of the water or the cry of the birds from the 
neighbouring woods, all are now vulgarised. The personally 
conducted tourist is there and very much in evidence. 
He wanders carelessly, often contemptuously, through the 
ancient temples, regarding temples, scenery, river, lakes, 
merely as " something to be done." The change was, I 
suppose, inevitable, but the change is one that I think is in 
some respects to be regretted. The tourist brings money 
and spends it freely, and the country no doubt reaps the 
advantage thereof, but the effect on the Japanese brought 
into contact with the European under such conditions is 
not, in my opinion, always, or often, beneficial. 

I have not much to remark in regard to the fauna of Japan. 
The domestic animals are comparatively few. The fact 
of the inhabitants not eating animal food has led to their 
paying little or no attention to the breeding of those 
animals which are largely in request in foreign countries. 
Horses, however, are fairly plentiful, though small. Japan, 
as I have elsewhere remarked, has been handicapped in 
the organisation of her cavalry by the lack of a proper 



THE COUNTRY 27 

supply of suitable horses, and she has recently despatched 
a commission to Europe to effect purchases with a view of 
putting this matter right, and improving the breed of 
horses in the country. Oxen and cows were till recently 
entirely, and are still largely, used for purposes of draught 
only. Sheep and pigs have been introduced from abroad, 
but they have not been generally distributed, and in many 
parts of Japan have never been seen. 

The wild animals of Japan are neither numerous nor 
important. The black bear and the wolf still exist, chiefly 
in the Northern Island, but it is certain that at no far- 
distant date they will, unless artificially preserved, go the 
way of all wild animals in civilised countries. The red- 
faced monkey is there, the only kind found in Japan, and 
snakes exist, but they are for the most part harmless. The 
art of the country will have familiarised Europeans with 
the presence of the crane and the stork,' which play such a 
prominent part therein. Indeed the wild birds of the 
country are more numerous than the animals. I am not 
aware whether geological research in Japan has been 
sufficiently extensive or systematic to ascertain whether, 
and if so what, any species of animals have ever existed 
there other than those at present found in the country. It 
certainly is in some respects extraordinary that a country 
so close to the Asiatic Continent and possessing such a 
variety of climates should, as regards the animal kingdom 
from the standpoint of the zoologist, be put down as 
distinctly poor. The fact, or supposed fact, to which I have 
previously referred, that the Japanese islands are the 
summits of mountain ranges which many thousand years 
ago had their bases submerged by the rising of the sea or 
had gradually settled down beneath the surface of the ocean, 
may, of course, account for the poverty of Japan in regard 



28 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

to the animals therein. I must leave other pens than mine 
to descant on that interesting if highly speculative matter. 
Be that as it may, if the fauna of Japan is poor, the country 
certainly makes up for it by the variety and magnifi- 
cence of its flora — a flora which deserves to be studied, 
and which has done so much to brighten not only the 
appearance of the country but the lives of its inhabitants. 



CHAPTER III 

THE JAPANESE RACE AND ITS LANGUAGE 

THERE are, I have always thought, two ways in 
which any race should be considered if it is 
desired to form a correct idea in regard to it, viz., from 
an ethnological and philological standpoint. No race 
deserves to be closer studied in these matters than the 
Japanese. Indeed, I am of opinion that it is impossible 
to arrive at any clear or correct opinion concerning it 
without having, however slightly, investigated its racial 
descent and the language which, among Eastern dialects, 
has so long been as great a puzzle to the philologist as 
has Basque among the European languages. Respecting 
the origin of the Japanese we know practically nothing — 
at any rate nothing authentic. The native legends and 
histories afford us neither guide nor clue in the matter. 
These legends and histories tell us that the Japanese are 
descended from the gods, but I am quite certain that the 
modern Japanese receives that fact (?) with something 
more than the proverbial grain of salt. According to the 
old legend Ninigi-no-Nikoto was a god despatched by his 
grandmother the Sun-goddess to take possession of Japan, 

and the land was peopled by him and his entourage. 

This god-man, it is stated, lived over 300,000 years ; his 



30 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

son, Hohoderni, attained to twice that period of longevity, 
while a grandchild, Ugaya by name, reached the respect- 
able old age of 836,042 years. Ugaya was, it is stated, the 
father of Jimmu, the first Emperor. It is not necessary to 
seriously notice fables or legends or poetic imagery, or 
whatever these tales may be deemed to be, although I may 
remark that the divine descent of the sovereign of Japan 
has, so far as I know, never been formally repudiated, and 
it is still explicitly, if not implicitly, held. 

Dr. Kaemfer, whose great work I have already referred 
to, propounded therein the somewhat fanciful theory that 
the Japanese are really the direct descendants of the 
ancient Babylonians, and that their language " is one of 
those which Sacred Writ mentions the all-wise Providence 
thought fit to infuse into the minds of the vain builders of 
the Babylonian Tower." According to his theory, which 
to me seems absolutely ludicrous, the Japanese came 
through Persia, then along the shores of the Caspian Sea 
and by the bank of the Oxus to its source. From there, 
he suggests, they crossed China, descended the Amoor, 
proceeded southwards to Korea, and found their way 
across the intervening sea to the Japanese islands. 
Another theory, which has found many supporters, is 
that the Japanese are descended from the Ainos, the 
hairy race still to be found in the island of Yesso. An 
advocate of this view seeks to bolster up his faith by the 
evidences of an aboriginal race still to be found in the 
relics of the Stone Age in Japan. "Flint arrows and spear- 
heads," he remarks, " hammers, chisels, scrapers, kitchen 
refuse, and various other trophies are frequently excavated, 
or may be found in the museum or in homes of private 
persons. Though covered with the soil for centuries, they 
seem as though freshly brought from an Aino hut in Yesso. 




THE SWEET SCENT OF THE CHERRY BLOSSOM 

FROM A PRINT BY HIROSHIGE 



JAPANESE RACE AND ITS LANGUAGE 31 

In scores of striking instances the very peculiar ideas, 
customs, and superstitions of both Japanese and Aino are 
the same, or but slightly modified." 

This seems to me to be no evidence at all. Flint 
arrows, spear-heads, hammers, and so on are to be found 
in every part of the world. Mankind all over the globe 
seems to have evolved its civilisation, or what passes for 
it, in very much the same way, viz., by process of experi- 
ment. Another authority has asserted that the short, 
round skull, the oblique eyes, the prominent cheek-bones, 
the dark, black hair, and the scanty beard all proclaim 
the Manchus and Koreans as the nearest congeners 
of the Japanese. This authority considers it positive 
that the latter are a Tungusic race, and that their own 
traditions and the whole course of their history are in- 
compatible with any other conclusion than that Korea is 
the route by which the immigrant tribes made their entry 
into Kiushiu from their original Manchurian home. While 
accepting this theory with some reservations, I may remark 
that I altogether fail to see what the " whole course " of 
Japanese history has to do with the matter. Japanese 
history, as I have previously observed, is almost altogether 
legendary, and proves nothing except the credulity of 
those who have accepted it as statements of fact. Ethno- 
logy, I admit, is a most interesting field for speculation. 
It is one in which the mind can positively run riot and 
the imagination revel. The wildest theories have been put 
forward in regard to many of the world's races, and philo- 
logical arguments of the thinnest possible kind have been 
used to bolster them up. For example, one very able 
writer on this matter has broached a theory respecting the 
origin of the Japanese, and supported it by what seems to 
be very plausible evidence. He assumes, on what grounds 



32 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

I know not, that there was a white race earlier in the field 
of history than the Aryans, and that the seat of this white 
race was in High Africa. That it was from Africa that 
migrations were made to North, Central, and South 
America, as well as to Egypt, and subsequently to 
Babylonia and, apparently, to India. In due course, 
according to this authority, Syria and Babylonia were 
conquered by the Semites, while the Aryans became 
masters of Europe, Asia Minor, and India. The sug- 
gestion is that the conquerors of the Japanese islands 
and the founders of the Japanese language and mythology 
were of the Turano-African type. That these invaders 
intermarried with a mixed short race, and that the new 
dominating Japanese race maintained and propagated 
their dialect of the language and their sect of the religion, 
and displaced the pure natives. The same authority 
suggests that when the Pacific route to America was 
closed by the weakness of the Turano Africans and the 
rising of cannibals and other savages (where did they rise 
from ?) the Japanese were isolated on the east. On their 
west the Turano-African dynasties in China and Korea 
fell, and were replaced by natives, the same series of events 
taking place as in Egypt, Peru, Mexico, '&c. The principal 
evidence in support of this somewhat startling theory is 
the similarity between the words in use in Japanese and 
in certain African languages. But if evidence of that 
nature is to be accepted in proof of somewhat improbable 
theories, it will be possible to prove almost anything in 
regard to the origin of races. I utterly reject all these 
far-fetched theories. Any unprejudiced man looking at 
the Japanese, the Chinaman, and the Korean will have 
no doubt whatever in his own mind as to their racial 
affinity. Differences there most certainly are, just as 



JAPANESE RACE AND ITS LANGUAGE 33 

there are between the Frenchman and the Englishman, 
or even the Englishman and the Scotchman, but what 
I may term the pronounced characteristics are the same — 
the colour of the skin, the oblique eyes, the dark hair, and 
the contour of the skull. These people, whatever the 
present difference in their mental, moral, and physical 
characteristics, have quite evidently all come from the 
same stock. They are, in a word, Mongolians, and any 
attempt to prove that one particular portion of this stock 
is Turano-African, or something else equally absurd from 
an ethnological point of view, seems to me to be positively 
childish. There was probably originally a mixture of 
races, Malay as well as others, which has had its effect on 
the peculiar temperament of the Japanese as he is to-day 
compared with the Chinaman. 

Of course language cannot be left out of account in the 
question of the racial origin of any people, and the Japanese 
language has, as I have said, long been a puzzle for the 
philologist. In the early times we are told the Japanese 
had no written language. The language in use before the 
opening up of communications with Korea and China 
stood alone. Indeed there is only one language outside 
Japan which has any affinity therewith, that is the language 
of the inhabitants of the Loo-choo Islands. Philologists 
have excluded the language from the Aryan and Semitic 
tongues, and included it in the Turanian group. It is said 
to possess all the characteristics of the Turanian family 
being agglutinated, that is to say, maintaining its roots in 
their integrity without formative prefixes, poor in conjunc- 
tions, and copious in the use of participles. It is uncertain 
when alphabetical characters were introduced into Japan, 
but it is believed to have happened when intercourse with 
Korea was first opened about the commencement of the 

D 



34 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

Christian Era. The warrior Empress, Jungu-kogo, is said 
to have carried away from Korea as many books as possible 
after the successful invasion of that country. In the third 
century the son of the Emperor Ojin learned to read 
Chinese works, and henceforward the Chinese language 
and literature seem to have been introduced into Japan. 
A great impetus was given to the spread of Chinese 
literature by the introduction of Buddhism and Buddhist 
writings in the sixth century, and the effect thereof is now 
apparent in the number of Chinese words in the Japanese 
language. The question as to the origin of the earliest 
written characters employed in Japan is one that has 
produced, and probably will continue to produce, much 
controversy. These are known as Shinji letters of the 
God Age, but they have left no traces in the existing 
alphabet. There is a remarkable difference between the 
written and spoken dialects of Japan. The grammars of 
the two are entirely different, and it is possible to speak 
the language colloquially and yet not be able to read a 
newspaper, book, or letter ; while, on the other hand, it is 
possible to know the written language thoroughly, and yet 
be unable to carry on a conversation with a Japanese. 
The spoken language, as a matter of fact, is not difficult 
except in regard to the complicated construction of the 
words. The difficulty is in reference to the written 
language. There are really three modes or systems of 
writing : the first consists of the use of the Chinese 
characters, the second and third of two different alphabets. 
Although the Japanese have adopted the Chinese cha- 
racters and learned to attach to them the same meaning 
as obtains in China, the construction of sentences is some- 
times so totally different that it is difficult for a Chinaman 
to read a book written by a Japanese in the Chinese 



JAPANESE RACE AND ITS LANGUAGE 35 

characters, while the Japanese cannot read Chinese books 
unless he has specially studied Chinese. It is evident from 
what I have said that it is difficult to obtain a complete 
knowledge of the written language of Japan in its Chinese 
form. There is a certain school of thought in Japan which 
is enthusiastic for the replacement of the present compli- 
cated system by the introduction of a Roman alphabet, 
but I feel bound to say that this school has not made 
much progress, and it is not likely to be successful. 
Although the present system has its disadvantages, it 
has its advantages likewise. The written characters are 
those common to about 450 millions of the world's people, 
and I think that the use of the Chinese characters in Japan 
will be a factor of considerable importance in the future 
history of the world, because I am convinced that Japan 
is destined to exercise a preponderating influence in and 
over China, and that the exercise of that influence will be 
greatly facilitated by the written characters which both 
nations have in common. 

I may at once candidly confess that I have no theory to 
broach in respect of the origin of the Japanese people or 
the language that they speak. In such matters theorising 
appears to me to be a pure waste of time. One has only 
to look round the world as it is to-day, or for the matter of 
that within the confines of one's own country, to see how 
rapidly the people living for long periods in a certain part 
of the country develop distinct characteristics not only in 
physiognomy but in dialect. It is only the existence of 
the printing press which has, so to speak, stereotyped the 
languages of nations and prevented variations becoming 
fixed, variations and dialects which in days prior to the 
existence of printing presses were evolved into distinct 
languages. Take the British Isles for example, any part of 



36 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

them, Yorkshire, Scotland, Ireland, London, and note the 
difference between the spoken language of certain classes 
and the language as printed in newspapers and books. 
Given a nation isolated, or comparatively isolated, for many 
hundreds of years, it is difficult to say to what extent its 
language might be evolved or in what degree the few 
chance visitors thereto may introduce words which are 
readily adapted to or adopted in the language and influence 
it for all time. Take, for example, a word which any 
visitor to China or Japan must have heard over and over 
again, viz., " Joss," as applied to God. This is, as most 
people know, simply a corruption of the Portuguese name 
for the deity. I hope some philologist a few thousand 
years hence who may trace that word to its original source 
will not adduce therefrom that either the Chinese or the 
Japanese sprang from a Latin race. 

The most ancient Japanese writings date from the eighth 
century. These are Japanese written in Chinese characters, 
but the Chinese written language as also its literature and 
the teachings of the great Chinese philosopher, Confucius, 
are believed to have been introduced several hundreds of 
years previously. This contact with and importation from 
China undoubtedly had a marked effect in inducing what 
I may term atrophy in the development of the Japanese 
language as also the growth of its own literature, that is a 
literature entirely devoid of Chinese influences. Indeed it 
is impossible to speculate on what might have been the 
development of Japan and in what direction that develop- 
ment would have proceeded had she never come under the 
influence of the Chinese language, literature, religion, and 
artistic principles. 

I have not the slightest doubt myself, as I have said 
before, that the Japanese are of the same stock as the 



JAPANESE RACE AND ITS LANGUAGE 37 

Chinese and Koreans. I have no theory in regard to the 
origin of the Ainos, who are most likely the aboriginal 
inhabitants. They are quite evidently a distinct race from 
the Japanese proper, although of course there has been 
some interbreeding between them. 

The language of Japan naturally suggests some reference 
to its literature, of which there is no lack, either ancient or 
modern. I have dealt with this matter in some detail in a 
subsequent chapter. The old literature of Japan is but 
little known to Europeans, and probably most Europeans 
would be incapable of appreciating or understanding it. 
It abounds in verbal artifices, and the whole habits of life 
and modes of thought and conception of things, material 
and spiritual, of the Japanese of those days were so totally 
different to those of the European as to render it almost 
unintelligible to the latter. There are, however, scholars 
who have waded through this literature as also through the 
poetry of Japan and have found great delight therein. In 
the process of translating an Oriental language, full of 
depths of subtlety of thought and expressing Oriental ideas 
in an Oriental manner, much, if not most, of its beauty and 
charm must be lost. That is, I think, why the Japanese 
prose and poetry when translated into English seem so 
bald and lifeless. We know by experience that even a 
European language loses in the process of translation which 
is, except in very rare instances, a purely mechanical art. 
How much more so must be the case in regard to an 
Oriental language with its depths of hyperbole and replete 
with imagery, idealism, and flowery illustrations. 

I have referred to the literature of modern Japan, the 
ephemeral literature, in a chapter on its newspaper press. 
The modern literature, whether ephemeral or otherwise, is 
distinctly not on Oriental lines. The influence of the West 



38 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

permeates it. Distinctive Japanese literature is, I imagine, 
a thing of the past, and I fear it will be less and less 
studied as time goes on. Young Japan is a " hustler," to 
use a modern word, and it has no time and mayhap not 
much inclination for what it perhaps regards as somewhat 
effete matter. It thinks hurriedly and acts rapidly, and 
it, accordingly, aspires to express its thoughts and ideas 
through a medium which shall do so concisely and 
effectively. 

Whatever the origin of the Japanese race or the Japanese 
language, whether the former came from the plains of 
Babylon, the heights of Africa, or from some part of the 
American Continent, or was evolved on the spot, one thing 
is certain — that the Japanese race and the Japanese language 
have been indelibly stamped on the world's history. The 
ethnologist may still puzzle himself as to the origin of these 
forty-seven millions of people and feel annoyed because he 
cannot classify them to his own satisfaction. The philolo- 
gist may feel an equal or even a greater puzzle in reference 
to their language. These are merely speculative matters 
which may interest or amuse the man who has the time 
for such pursuits, but they are, after all, of no great practical 
importance. The future of a race is of rnore concern than 
its past, and, whatever the origin of a language may have 
been, if that language serves in the processes of develop- 
ment to give expression to noble thoughts, whether in 
prose or poetry, to voice the wisdom of the people, to 
preach the gospel of human brotherhood, it matters little 
how it was evolved or whence it came. It is because I 
believe that the Japanese race and the Japanese language 
have a great future before them in the directions I have 
indicated that I have dealt but lightly, I hope none of my 
readers will think contemptuously, with the theories that 
have been put forward in reference to the origin of both. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN, THEIR INFLUENCES 
AND EFFECTS 

MOST persons in this country if they were asked 
what was the religion of the Japanese people would 
probably answer Buddhism. As a matter of fact, though 
Buddhism was introduced into Japan from Korea as far 
back as 552 A.D., it is not and never has been the pre- 
ponderating religion in Japan. At the same time I quite 
admit that it has had a marked effect on the religious life 
of the people, and that it again has been influenced by the 
ancient Shinto (literally, " The way of the gods ") belief 
of the Japanese people. This belief, a compound of 
mythology and ancestral worship, was about the first 
century largely encrusted by Confucian doctrines or 
maxims, mostly ethical, imported from China. Of the 
precise doctrines of Shintoism but little is even now 
known. It has apparently no dogmas and no sacred book. 
I am aware that there are the ancient Shinto rituals, called 
Nurito, and that in reference to them a vast amount of 
more or less erudite commentary has been written. The 
result, however, has not been very enlightening. I think 
that Kaemfer succinctly summed up the Shinto faith in 
reference to the Japanese people when he remarked, " The 

more immediate end which they propose to themselves is 

39 



40 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

a state of happiness in this world." In other words, if this 
assertion be correct, Shintoism preaches utilitarianism. As 
to the origin of this religion there is very much the same 
uncertainty and quite as large an amount of theorising as is 
the case in reference to the Japanese race and language. 
The most generally received opinion is that Shintoism is 
closely allied with, if not an offshoot of, the old religion of 
the Chinese people prior to the days of Confucius. Ori- 
ginally Shinto was in all probability a natural religion, but, 
like all religious systems, it has developed or suffered from 
accretions until the ancient belief is lost in obscurity. 
The author of a now somewhat out-of-date book, entitled 
" Progress of Japan," asserts that the religion of the 
Japanese consists in a " belief that the productive ethereal 
spirit being expanded through the whole universe, every part 
is in some degree impregnated with it and therefore every 
part is in some measure the seat of the Deity ; whence 
local gods and goddesses are everywhere worshipped 
and consequently multiplied without end. Like the 
ancient Romans and Greeks they acknowledge a supreme 
being, the first, the supreme, the intellectual, by which men 
have been reclaimed from rudeness and barbarism to 
elegance and refinement, and been taught through 
privileged men and women not only to live with more 
comfort but to die with better hope." Such a religion, 
however it may be described, seems to me to be in effect 
Pantheism. 

When Buddhism was introduced into Japan the Budd- 
hist priesthood seems to have made no difficulty about 
receiving the native gods into their Pantheon. Gradually 
the greater number of the Shinto temples were served by 
Buddhist priests who introduced into them the elaborate 
ornaments and ritual of Buddhism. The result was a 



THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 41 

kind of hybrid religion, the h'ne of demarcation between 
the ancient and the imported faith not being very clearly 
defined. Hence perhaps the religious tolerance of the 
Japanese for so many centuries, even to Christianity when 
first introduced by St. Francis Xavier. About the be- 
ginning of the eighteenth century there was something 
akin to a religious reformation in Japan in the direction 
of the revival of pure Shintoism. For a century and a half 
subsequently Shintoism held up its head, and eventually, 
as the outcome of the Revolution of 1868, which marked a 
turning-point in the history of Japan, Buddhism was dis- 
established and disendowed and Shinto was installed as 
the State religion. Simultaneously many thousand of 
Buddhist temples were stripped of their magnificent and 
elaborate ornaments and handed over to Shinto keeping; 
but the downfall of Buddhism was merely of a tem- 
porary nature. Nevertheless Shinto is, ostensibly at any 
rate, still the State religion. Certain temples are main- 
tained from public funds and certain official religious 
functions take place in Shinto edifices. 

Buddhism, acclimatised though it has been in Japan for 
thirteen centuries, is still a foreign religion, but it has 
played, and to some extent still plays, an important part 
in the life and history of the nation, and it has, as I have 
said, materially influenced the ancient faith of Japan and 
in turn been influenced by it. I have no intention of 
describing, much less tracing, the history of Buddhism, 
whether in Japan or elsewhere. It is a subject on which 
many writers have descanted and in regard to which much 
might still be written. There is no doubt whatever that 
Buddhism as it exists to-day, whether in Ceylon, India, 
China, or Japan, is widely different from the religion of 
its founder. Many of its original doctrines were purely 



42 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

symbolical and poetical. These have been evolved into 
something they were certainly never intended to mean. 
That the principles of the Buddhist religion are essentially 
pure and moral no one who has any knowledge of it can 
deny. It preaches above all things the suppression of self, 
and it inculcates a tenderness and fondness for all forms of 
life. According to Grififis, " Its commandments are the 
dictates of the most refined morality. Besides the cardinal 
prohibitions against murder, stealing, adultery, lying, 
drunkenness and unchastity, every shade of vice, hypo- 
crisy, anger, pride, suspicion, greediness, gossiping, cruelty 
to animals is guarded against by special precepts. Among 
the virtues recommended we find not only reverence of 
parents, care of children, submission to authority, grati- 
tude, moderation in times of prosperity, submission in 
times of trial, equanimity at all times, but virtues such as 
the duty of forgiving insults and not rewarding evil with 
evil." This is a pretty exhaustive moral code, and though 
Buddhism has often been taunted with the fact that its 
followers do not practically carry out its precepts and live 
up to the level of its high moral teaching, Buddhism is 
not, I would suggest, the only religion against which 
such taunts can be levelled. 

The history of Buddhism ever since its introduction into 
Japan has been an eventful one. It has had its ups and 
its downs. It came into the country under royal auspices, 
it has nearly always enjoyed the royal favour, and I think 
its existence, during at any rate the first few centuries it 
was in the country, has been due to that fact rather than 
to any pronounced affection on the part of the mass of the 
people for it. One Emperor, Shirakawa by name, is 
recorded to have erected more than 50,000 pagodas and 
statues throughout the country in honour of Buddha. 



THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 43 

Many of these works are still, after many centuries, in an 
excellent state of preservation, and are of deep interest not 
only to the antiquarian but to any student of the religious 
history of a nation. The Buddhist priests, like the Jesuits 
in European countries, during many centuries captured 
and controlled education in Japan and showed themselves 
thoroughly progressive in their methods and the know- 
ledge they inculcated. Art and medicine were introduced 
under their auspices and, whatever one may think of, or 
whatever criticism may be passed on the religion itself, it 
is impossible, in my opinion, to deny that Buddhism on the 
whole has had a vast and, I venture to think, not an 
unhealthy influence on every phase of Japanese national 
and domestic life. The strength and weakness of Budd- 
hism have undoubtedly lain in the fact that it possessed 
and possesses no dogmatic creed. It concerned itself 
almost entirely with self-mastery, self-suppression, the 
duty of doing good in this world without looking forward 
to any reward for the same in the next. It preached 
benevolence in the true meaning of that word in every 
shape and form. It taught that benevolence was the 
highest aspiration of a noble spirit. Benevolence was, 
indeed, the master virtue, the crown, the coping stone, of 
all virtues. As the term is used in Buddhist teaching, it 
may be regarded as the synonym of love and a close study 
of the teaching of Buddhism on this subject must impress 
any thinking man strongly with the idea that it was very 
much the teaching of Christ in reference to the love of 
one's neighbour. Buddhism in Japan at any rate has not 
been conservative ; it has gone the way of most religious 
systems, has been subject to development and has evolved 
from time to time different sects, some of which have held 
and preached dogmas which would, I think, have astounded, 



44 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

and I feel certain would have been anathematised by, the 
founder of Buddhism. The principal of the sects now 
existing in Japan are the Tendai, Shingon Yoko and 
Ken, all of which, I may observe, are of Chinese origin. 
Besides these there are the Shin and the Nichiren evolved 
in Japan and dating from the thirteenth century. Re- 
specting the metaphysics of Buddhism and their effect on 
the Japanese people I cannot, I think, do better than quote 
from that great authority on all things Japanese, Mr. 
Basil Hall Chamberlain, whose writings have done so 
much, not only to awaken an interest in Japan but to give 
correct ideas respecting the life of the people. He remarks, 
in this connection, " The complicated metaphysics of 
Buddhism have awakened no interest in the Japanese 
nation. Another fact, curious but true, is that these people 
have never been at the trouble to translate the Buddhist 
canon into their own language. The priests use a Chinese 
version, the laity no version at all nowadays, though to 
judge from the allusions scattered up and down Japanese 
literature they would seem to have been more given to 
searching the Scriptures a few hundred years ago. The 
Buddhist religion was disestablished and disendowed 
during the years 187 1-4 — a step taken in consequence of 
the temporary ascendency of Shinto. At the present time 
a faint struggle is being carried on by the Buddhist priest- 
hood against rivals in comparison with whom Shinto is 
insignificant : we mean the two great streams of European 
thought — Christianity and physical science. A few — a 
very few — men trained in European methods fight for the 
Buddhist cause. They do so, not as orthodox believers 
in any existing sect, but because they are convinced that 
the philosophical contents of Buddhism in general are 
supported by the doctrine of evolution, and that this 



THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 45 

religion needs therefore only to be regenerated on modern 
lines in order to find universal acceptance." 

The "Reformation" of 1868 in Japan followed much 
the same course in regard to religious matters as the 
Reformation in England. It laid vandal hands on Budd- 
hist temples and ornaments of priceless value. The 
objective point of this religious Reformation was pre- 
sumably very much the same as that which occurred in 
this country, viz., a reversion to simplicity in religion. 
The Shinto Temple which is invariably thatched is a 
development of the ancient Japanese hut, whereas the 
Buddhist Temple, which is of Indian origin, is tiled, and as 
regards its internal fittings and ornamentation is elaborate 
in comparison with the plain appearance of the Shinto 
edifice. 

So far as the Japan of to-day is concerned these two 
religions may be regarded as moribund, although their 
temples are still thronged by the lower classes of the 
people. They exist because they are there, but they have 
no vitality, no message for the people, and it is questionable 
whether any of Japan's great thinkers or the educated 
classes in the country, whichever religion they may 
nominally belong to, have faith or belief in it. A man 
may have, or for sundry reasons profess, a creed in Japan 
as in other countries without believing in it. Custom and 
prejudices are as strong there as elsewhere, and it is often 
easier to appear to acquiesce in a religion than to openly 
reject it. 

There are, I know, some optimistic persons who believe, 
or affect to believe, that Christianity is in due course 
destined to replace the ancient faiths in Japan. They 
point to what was effected by St. Francis Xavier in the 
sixteenth century, and they imagine that the Japan of the 



46 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

twentieth century is only waiting to finally unshackle 
itself from Shintoism and Buddhism before arraying itself 
in the garb of Christianity. Well, Christian missions have 
had a fair field in Japan for many years past, and though 
many members of those missions have been men of great 
piety, zeal, and learning, they have made comparatively 
little headway among and have exercised extremely little 
influence on the mass of the Japanese people. Indeed, the 
fair field that all Christian missions without distinction 
have had, in my opinion, accounts for the small amount of 
progress they have made Because all the leading Christian 
denominations are there — Roman Catholicism, Church of 
England, Greek Church, Congregationalists, Methodists, 
Baptists, Salvation Army, Society of Friends, and others — 
all preaching and proclaiming their own particular dogmas 
and all lumped together by the Japanese under the generic 
title of Christians. The Japanese may, I think, be excused 
if he fails to differentiate between them. He views and 
hears their differences in dogma. He observes that there 
is no bond of union, and frequently considerable jealousy 
among these numerous sects. Each claims to preach 
the truth, and the Japanese concludes that as they 
cannot all be right they may possibly all be wrong. It is 
only on this assumption that it is possible to account for 
the little headway made by Christianity in Japan in view 
of the labour and money devoted by different religious 
bodies to its propagation for many years past. There is, 
let me add, no marked hostility to Christianity in Japan — 
only indifference. The educated Japanese of to-day is, I 
believe, for the most part an agnostic, and he views 
Shintoism, Buddhism, Christianity alike, except in so far as 
he regards the first two as more or less national and the 
last as an exotic. 



THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 47 

At the commencement of the seventeenth century the 
Japanese Christians are stated to have amounted in 
numbers to one milHon. At the present time it is doubtful 
if they total up to one hundred thousand. And this despite 
the splendid religious organisations that exist, the facilities 
that are given for the propagation of the Christian faith, 
and the opportunities which were certainly not in existence 
three hundred years ago. Into the causes of this com- 
parative failure of Christianity in Japan to-day as compared 
with its marvellous progress in the sixteenth century, I 
do not propose to enter. The enthusiasm of a Francis 
Xavier is not an everyday event, and the Japanese of the 
sixteenth century was, mayhap, more impressed by the 
missionaries of those days, arriving in flimsy and diminutive 
vessels after undergoing the perils and hardships of long 
voyages, having neither purse nor scrip nor wearing 
apparel except what they stood up in, than he is by the 
modern missionary arriving as a first-class passenger in a 
magnificent steamer and during his residence in the country 
lacking none of the comforts or amenities of life. Or it 
may be that the Japanese mind has advanced and developed 
during the past three centuries, has now less hankering after 
metaphysical subtleties, and fails to comprehend or to 
sympathise with abstruse theological dogmas and doctrines. 
If Christianity appealed to him as in the days of Francis 
Xavier as the one faith professed by the Western world, 
it would probably impress him to a far greater extent than 
it does at present when, as I have before said, he views 
Christianity as a disorganised body composed of hundreds 
of sects each rejecting, and many of them anathematising, 
what the others teach. He considers there is no need for 
investigation until Christianity has itself determined what 
is the precise truth that non-Christian countries are to be 
asked to accept. 



48 THE EMPIRE OP THE EAST 

Regarding the influence of the Buddhist and Shinto 
religions during the many centuries they have existed in 
the country on the lives of the people, I propose to make 
a few remarks. Too often one hears or reads of speakers 
and writers describing Japan as a country steeped in 
paganism and addicted to pagan habits and customs with 
all (somewhat indefinite this !) that they involve. To 
describe Buddhism as paganism merely shows a lamentable 
amount of ignorance ; nor should I be inclined to include 
Shintoism in a term which, whatever its precise meaning, 
is invariably intended to be opprobious ! After all, any 
religion must be largely judged by its effects on the lives 
of its adherents, and judged by that standard I do not 
think, as regards the Japanese, either Buddhism or 
Shintoism ought to be sweepingly condemned. If many 
of the customs and pi?actices of both religions seem silly 
or absurd ; if either or both inculcate or lead to superstition, 
it can at least be said of both that they teach a high moral 
code, and that the average Japanese in his life, his family 
relations, his philosophy, his patriotism, his bodily cleanli- 
ness, and in many other respects, offers an example to other 
nations which deem themselves more highly civilised, which 
possess a purer religion and too often, with that lack of 
charity which is frequently the result of an excess of 
ignorance, unsparingly condemn the Japanese as " pagans " 
or "heathens." 




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CHAPTER V 

THE CONSTITUTION — THE CROWN AND THE HOUSES OF 

PARLIAMENT 

A Constitution, if we are to accept the dogmatic 
assertions of those who have written with a show of 
learning on the subject, ought to be evolved rather than 
established by any parliamentary or despotic act. The 
history of the world certainly tends to prove that paper 
Constitutions have not been over-successful in the past. 
There assuredly has been no lack of them in the last 
century or so, and although some, if not all, of them have 
been practically tried, a very few have attained any 
considerable measure of success. The English Constitution 
has long been held up to the rest of the world by writers 
on Constitutional history as a model of what a Constitution 
ought to be, for the somewhat paradoxical reason that it is 
nowhere clearly, if indeed at all, defined. It is largely the 
outcome of custom and usage, and it is claimed for it that 
on the whole it has worked better than any cut-and-dried 
paper Constitution would have done. 

Nevertheless there does not appear to be any good and 
valid reason why a Constitution should not be as clearly 
defined as an Act of Parliament. Undefined Constitutions 
have worked well at certain periods when there was a tacit 

E 49 



50 THE EMPIRE OP THE EAST 

general consent as to their meaning, but they have not 
always been able to withstand the strain of fierce con- 
troversy and the coming into existence of factors which 
were undreamt of when these Constitutions were originally 
evolved, and definitions or additions or amendments 
thereto have, accordingly, become necessary. 

The promulgation of a Constitution for Japan in Feb- 
ruary, 1889, was an event of great interest to the civilised 
world. There were, of course, at the time a large number 
of persons who prophesied that this Constitution would 
go the way of many others that had preceded it — that 
it would, in fact, be found unworkable and, being so found. 
Constitutional Government in Japan would eventuate, as 
it had elsewhere, in the resumption of autocratic rule as 
the only alternative to anarchy. It is pleasing to be 
able to record that these prophecies have, after nearly 
eighteen years' experience, not been fulfilled, and that 
the Japanese Constitution, well thought out and devised 
as it was, seems not only likely to endure but is admirably 
adapted to all the circumstances and needs of the 
country. 

In order to fully comprehend the events that gradually 
led up to the establishment of Constitutional govern- 
ment in Japan, and the precise place of the Crown and 
aristocracy in that government, it is, I think, essential to 
make a rapid review of past events in that country. 

In ancient times the Mikado was both the civil ruler 
and the military leader of his people. Under him there 
were exercising authority throughout the land about 150 
feudal lords. Feudalism of one kind or another prevailed 
in Japan until 1868. Towards the end of the sixteenth 
century the feudal principle was apparently on the decline. 
In the year 1600, however, Tokagawa lyoyasu, with an 



THE CONSTITUTION 51 

army composed of the clans of the east and north 
defeated the combined forces of those of the west and 
south at the battle of Sakigahara and proclaimed himself 
Shogun. The feudal lords of the various clans throughout 
the country then became his vassals and paid homage to 
him. The Tokagawa family practically governed the 
country till the Revolution of 1868, when the present 
Emperor took the reins of government into his own hands 
and finally abolished feudalism and with it the authority 
of the Daimios. Many persons even now believe that 
the Shogun, or Tycoon as he was usually called in Europe, 
was a usurper. As a matter of fact he received investiture 
from the Mikado, and his authority was, nominally at any 
rate, a derived one. At the same time there is no doubt 
that the real power of the State was in his hands while 
the de jure ruler lived in the capital in complete seclusion 
surrounded by all the appanages and ceremonial of royalty. 

Up to the year 1868 Japan was divided into numerous 
provinces governed by Daimios, or territorial lords, each 
of whom maintained large standing armies. They were 
all subject to the Shogun, while retaining the right to 
rule their particular provinces in ordinary matters. In 
1868 the Shogun fell, and there can be little doubt his 
fall was to some extent brought about by the concessions 
which had been made to foreign Powers in regard to 
the opening of the country to foreign trade. In 1868 
the Shogun repaired to Kyoto, the first time for 250 
years, and paid homage to the Mikado. Feudalism was 
then, as I have said, abolished, the Emperor took the 
reins of authority into his own hands, formed a central 
Government at Tokio and reigned supreme as an absolute 
monarch. 

"The sacred throne was established at the time when 



52 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

the heavens and earth became separated." This has 
long been an axiom of Japanese belief, but it has been 
somewhat modified of late years, even the assertion of it 
by the Sovereign himself A leading Japanese statesman 
who has written an article on the subject of the Emperor 
and his place in the Constitution has asserted that he 
is " Heaven descended, sacred and divine." I do not 
think that the modern Japanese entertains this tran- 
scendental opinion nor, indeed, do I find that the Emperor 
himself has of late years put forward any such pretensions. 
For example, in the Imperial proclamation on the Con- 
stitution of the Empire on February ii, 1889, the 
Emperor declared that he had "by virtue of the glories 
of our ancestors ascended the Throne of a lineal succession 
unbroken for ages eternal^ Whereas in the Imperial 
Rescript declaring war against China on August i, 1894, 
he contented himself with asserting that he was " seated 
on a Throne occupied by the same dynasty from time 
immemorial^ The italics are mine, and the difference 
in the pretensions which I desire to emphasise is certainly 
remarkable. 

When granting a Constitution the Emperor, as has been 
and probably will be the custom of all monarchs so acting, 
declared that the legislative power belonged to him but 
that he intended to exercise it with the consent of the 
Imperial Diet. The convocation of the Diet belongs 
exclusively to the Emperor. It has no power to meet 
without his authority, and if it did so meet its acts and 
its actions would be null and void. In this respect the 
Diet is on precisely the same basis as the English Par- 
liament. According to the Constitution the Emperor, 
when the Diet is not sitting, can issue Imperial ordinances 
which shall have the effect of law so long as they do 



THE CONSTITUTION 53 

not contravene any existing law. The article authorising 
these ordinances defines that they shall only be promul- 
gated in consequence of an urgent necessity to maintain 
public safety or to avert public calamities, and all such 
ordinances must be laid before the Diet at its next sitting, 
and in the event of the same not being approved they 
become null and void. 

To my mind, one of the most interesting portions of 
the Constitution is that which lays down succinctly and 
tersely the rights and duties of Japanese subjects. In 
this section there are contained within about fifty lines 
the declaration of innumerable rights for which mankind 
in various parts of the world during many hundreds of 
years fought and bled and endured much suffering. Just 
let me mention a few of them. No Japanese subject shall 
be arrested, detained, tried or punished unless according 
to law. Except as provided by law the house of no 
Japanese subject shall be entered or searched without 
his consent. Except in the cases provided by law, the 
secrecy of the letters of every Japanese subject shall 
remain inviolate. The right of property of every Japanese 
subject shall remain inviolate. Japanese subjects shall 
enjoy freedom of religious belief. Japanese subjects 
shall enjoy liberty of speech, writing, publication, public 
meetings and associations. Japanese subjects may present 
petitions. We have in these few brief provisoes the 
sum total of everything that, in effect, constitutes the 
liberty of the subject. 

The Diet of Japan, like the Parliament of Great Britain, 
consists of two Houses — a House of Peers and a House 
of Representatives. The House of Peers is composed 
of (i) the members of the Imperial family, (2) Princes 
and Marquises, (3) Counts, Viscounts and Barons who 



54 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

are elected thereto by the members of their respective 
orders, (4) persons who have been specially nominated 
by the Emperor on account of meritorious service or by 
reason of their erudition, (5) persons who have been 
elected, one member for each city and prefecture of the 
Empire, by and from among the taxpayers of the highest 
amount of direct national taxes on land, industry, or 
trade, and who had subsequently received the approval 
of the Emperor. It will be seen that the members of 
the Imperial family, the Princes and Marquises, have an 
inalienable right to sit in the House of Peers, the latter 
rank on attaining the age of 25 years. In regard to 
Counts, Viscounts, and Barons there is no such right. 
Those ranks, like the Peers of Scotland and Ireland, 
meet together and select one-fifth of their number to 
represent them in the House of Peers for a term of seven 
years. Any subject over thirty years of age nominated 
by the Emperor for meritorious service or erudition 
remains a life member. Those returned by the cities 
and prefectures remain members for a period of seven 
years. It is provided by the Constitution that the 
number of members of the House of Peers who are not 
nobles shall not exceed the number of the members 
bearing a title of nobility. 

The question of the necessity for the existence of a 
second chamber and the composition thereof has been 
keenly debated in this and other countries of recent years. 
It seems to me that in this matter Japan has hit upon 
the happy mean. She has combined in her House of 
Peers the aristocratic or hereditary element in a modified 
degree with the principle of life membership by which 
she secures the services and counsel of the great intellects 
of the land, and such as have done the State good 



THE CONSTITUTION 55 

service in any capacity. At the same time she has not 
excluded the representative element from her second 
chamber — a fact which must largely obviate any possibility 
of the House of Peers becoming a purely class body. 
A second chamber so constituted must obviously serve 
an extremely useful purpose in preserving an equilibrium 
between political parties, in preventing the rushing 
through and passing into law of hastily considered 
measures. For the composition of her second chamber, 
Japan has taken all human means possible to obtain 
whatever is representative of the stability, the intellect, 
the enterprise and the patriotism of the country. 

The composition of the House of Representatives, which 
answers to our House of Commons, is as interesting as 
that of the Upper Chamber. When the Constitution was 
first promulgated the principle of small electoral districts 
obtained, one member being elected for each district. 
This system was found or believed to be faulty, and 
hence, after some years' experience, large electoral districts 
combined with a single vote have been instituted. It may 
be interesting to relate that both systems, the large and 
the small districts, were drafted by an Englishman, Mr. 
Thomas Hair. Cities whose population exceeds 30,000 
are formed into separate electoral districts while a city 
with less than 30,000 inhabitants is, with its suburbs, 
constituted a district. The number of members allowed 
to each district depends on the population. For a 
population of 130,000 or under one member is allowed, 
and for every additional 65,000 persons above the 
former number an additional member is allotted. The 
number of members in the House of Representatives is 
381, or little over half that of which our House of 
Commons consists. The population of the two countries 



56 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

is almost identical, and experience serves to show that the 
number of Members of Parliament in Japan is sufficiently- 
numerous for all practical purposes and that any material 
addition thereto would be more likely to impede than to 
accelerate the wheels of legislative progress. Neither the 
Japanese Constitution nor the Electoral Law makes any 
provision for the representation of minorities, that aim of 
so many well-meaning persons in different countries. In 
Japan the majority rules as everywhere, and minorities 
must submit. 

Manhood suffrage is not yet a fait accompli in Japan. 
Under the present law to qualify a Japanese subject to 
exercise the franchise he must pay 15 yen (about 30s.) 
or more, indirect taxation. Only a Japanese subject can 
vote at elections. No foreigner has any electoral rights, 
but if he becomes a naturalised Japanese subject he 
obtains all the privileges appertaining to that position. 

Each House of Parliament in Japan possesses a 
president and vice-president, who are elected by the 
members. The president of each House receives an 
annual allowance of 4,000 yen (about ^400) and the 
vice-president 2,000 yen (about ;i^200). The payment of 
Members of Parliament is in vogue in Japan. The elected 
and nominated, but not the hereditary, members of the 
House of Peers, and each member of the House of 
Representatives, receives an annual allowance of 800 yen 
(about ;^8o). They are also paid travelling expenses in 
accordance with the regulations on the subject. It may 
be interesting to state that there is a clause in the 
Constitution which enacts that the president, vice-president, 
and members of the two Houses who are entitled to 
annual allowances shall not be permitted to decline the 
same ! It says much for the estimate of patriotism 



THE CONSTITUTION 57 

entertained in Japan when the Constitution was pro- 
mulgated that such a clause as this should have been 
considered necessary. 

Debate in both the Japanese Houses of Parliament is 
free and the proceedings public. There will be no 
occasion for the uprising of a Wilkes in Japan to obtain 
permission to publish Parliamentary Debates. The 
Constitution, however, contains a proviso for the sitting 
of either House with closed doors upon the wish of the 
president or of not less than ten members, the same 
being agreed to by the House, or upon the demand of 
the Government with or without the consent of the House. 
When in the former event a motion for a secret sitting is 
made, strangers have to withdraw from the House and 
the motion is voted on without debate. The proceedings 
of a secret meeting of either Chamber are not allowed to be 
published. 

The Japanese Constitution, which is certainly a 
document containing not only provisions of an epoch- 
making nature but most elaborate details in regard to 
even minor matters, includes in seven or eight lines one 
or two excellent rules in regard to what is termed " The 
Passing of the Budget." Under these rules, when the 
Budget is introduced into the House of Representatives 
the Committee thereon must finish the examination of it 
within fifteen days and report thereon to the House, 
while no motion for any amendment in the Budget 
can be made the subject of debate unless it is supported 
by at least thirty members. 

The Constitution of Japan, as I have remarked, contains 
a vast amount of detail. The framers of that Constitution 
seem to have been endowed with an abnormal amount of 
prevision. In fact they foresaw the possibility of occur- 



58 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

rences and made provision for those occurrences that 
nations which are, or which consider themselves to be, more 
highly civilised have not yet taken any adequate steps to 
deal with. For example. Article 92 of the Constitution 
enacts that in neither House of Parliament shall the use of 
coarse language or personalities be allowed, while Article 
93 declares that when any member has been vilified or 
insulted either in the House or in a meeting of a Com- 
mittee he shall appeal to the House and demand that 
proper measures shall be taken. There shall, it is decreed, 
be no retaliation among members. The Constitution also 
contains several salutary regulations in reference to the 
disciplinary punishment of members. 

The establishment of a Parliament in Japan has produced 
parties and a party system. I suppose that was inevitable. 
In every country there is, and as human nature is con- 
stituted there always will be, two parties representative of 
two phases of the human mind : the party in a hurry to 
effect progress because it deems progress desirable, and 
the party that desires to cling as long as possible to the 
ancient ways because it knows them and has had 
experience of them and looks askance at experiments — 
experiments for which that somewhat Hackneyed phrase 
a " leap in the dark " has long done service. I have no 
intention, as I said in the Preface, of dealing at all with 
Japanese politics. There is no doubt a good deal of heat, 
and the resultant friction, evoked in connection with 
politics in Japan as elsewhere. Perhaps this young nation — 
that is, young from a parliamentary point of view — takes 
politics too seriously. Time will remedy that defect, if it 
be a defect. At the same time, I may express the opinion 
that, however severe party strife may be in Japan, and 
though the knocks given and received in the course 



THE CONSTITUTION 59 

thereof are hard and some of the language not only 
vigorous but violent, the members of all parties have at 
heart and as their objective point the advancement of 
Japan and the good of the country generally. 

The Japanese Constitution, though not a very lengthy, 
is such an all-embracing document that in a hurried survey 
of it, it is possible to overlook many important features. 
It provides for the establishment of a Privy Council to 
deliberate upon important matters of State, but only when 
consulted by the Emperor. It enforces the responsibility 
of the Ministers of State for all advice given to the 
Emperor and decrees that all laws. Imperial ordinances 
and Imperial rescripts of any kind relating to affairs of 
State, must be countersigned by a Minister of State. The 
Constitution also defines the position, authority, and 
independence of the judges. That Constitution contains 
a proviso all-important in reference to the upright 
administration of the law, a proviso which it took 
years of agitation to obtain in this country, that no 
judge shall be deprived of his position unless by way 
of criminal sentence or disciplinary punishment. All 
trials and judgments of the court of law are to be con- 
ducted publicly. Provision is made, when there exists any 
fear of a trial in open court being prejudicial to peace and 
order or to the m.aintenance of public morality, for the 
same to be held in camera. I may add, before I take leave 
of the Constitution, with a view of showing how all- 
embracing as I have said are the various matters dealt 
with therein, that it defines and declares that the style 
of address for the Emperor and Empress shall be His, Her, 
or Your Majesty, while that for the Imperial Princes and 
Princesses shall be His, Her, Their, or Your Highness or 
Highnesses. 



60 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

In regard to no matter connected with Japan have I 
found so large an amount of misconception prevalent as in 
reference to the position of the Emperor of that country. 
The divine descent which is still sometimes claimed for the 
sovereigns of Japan and which has never, so far as I know, 
been officially repudiated, has caused some persons to 
regard the Emperor from a somewhat ludicrous standpoint. 
In this very prosaic and materialistic age, when very few 
persons have profound beliefs on any subject, the spectacle 
of one of the sovereigns of the earth still claiming a divine 
origin is one that appeals to the ludicrous susceptibilities 
of that vague entity " the man in the street." It is not 
well, however, that people should criticise statements in 
royal proclamations or in royal assertions too seriously. 
Even in this country there are documents issued from time 
to time bearing the royal sign manual which every one 
regards as interesting but meaningless formalities — interest- 
ing because they are a survival of mediaeval documents 
which meant something some hundreds of years ago and 
still remain though their meanings have long since lapsed. 
And yet there are persons in this country who peruse such 
documents and know that they are simply words signifying 
practically nothing, who severely criticise the assertion of 
a long-used title by the Japanese Emperor upon issuing a 
royal proclamation. I am not aware whether his Imperial 
Majesty or his Ministers of State implicitly accept his divine 
descent, but this I do know — that those persons who regard 
the present Emperor of Japan as a State puppet, arrogating 
more or less divine attributes, are labouring under a profound 
delusion. There is no abler man in Japan at the present 
moment. There is no abler man among the sovereigns of 
the world. In fact, I should be inclined to place the 
Emperor of Japan at the head of the world's great states- 



THE CONSTITUTION 61 

men. He is no monarch content to reign but not to govern, 
concerned simply about ceremonial and the fripperies and 
gew-gaws of royalty. He is a constitutional sovereign 
certainly. He has always shown the deepest respect for 
the Constitution ever since its promulgation, and never in 
the slightest degree attempted to infringe or override any 
portion of it. At the same time he is an effective force in 
the Government of Japan. There is nothing too great or 
too little in the Empire or in the relations of the Empire 
with foreign Powers for his ken. He, in a word, has the 
whole reins of government in his hands, and he exercises 
over every department and detail of it a minute and rigid 
supervision which is, in my opinion, largely responsible for 
the efficiency of the internal administration of the country 
as also for the place that Japan holds among the Great 
Powers of the world, 

I cannot leave a consideration of this subject without 
referring to the assistance rendered to the Emperor by, as 
also to the debt Japan owes to, some six or seven great 
men in that country whose names I shall not inscribe here 
because to do so would be to some extent invidious, 
several of whom do not, as a matter of fact, hold any formal 
position in the Government of the country. The wisdom 
of these men has been a great boon for such a country as 
Japan, and if she is not now as sensible of it as she ought to 
be future ages will, I feel sure, recognise the debt that Japan 
owes to them. Some persons with an intimate knowledge 
of Japan have told me that it is not, after all, a constitutional 
State but in effect, though not in name, an oligarchy. This 
word has in the past often had unpleasant associations, 
and one does not like to apply it in reference to the Govern- 
ment of a progressive and enlightened country. Still the 
word strictly means government by a small body of men, 



62 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

and if in those men is included the larger part of the 
wisdom of the country, and they exercise their power 
solely and exclusively for the benefit of the country, I am 
not certain that such a form of government is not the best 
that could be devised. Of course, humanity being as it is, 
an oligarchy, has its dangers and its temptations. I will 
say, however, of the wise men of Japan, the men to whom 
I have been referring and who whether in office or out of 
office have exercised, and must continue to exercise, a 
marked and predominant influence on the government of 
the country, that their patriotism has never been called in 
question, and no one has at any time suggested that they 
were influenced by self-seeking or other unworthy motives, 
or had any aspirations save the material and moral 
advancement of Japan and her elevation to a prominent 
position among the Great Powers of the world. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE PEOPLE — THEIR LIFE AND HABITS 

AFTER all, the life of the people is the most interesting, 
as I think it is the most instructive, matter con- 
nected with any country. It is assuredly impossible to 
form a clear or indeed any correct idea in regard to a 
nation unless we know something of the manners and 
customs, the daily life, the amusements, the vices of its 
people. Unless we can, as it were, take a bird's-eye view 
of the people at work and at play, at their daily avocations 
in their homes, see them as they come into the world, as 
they go through life's pilgrimage, and, finally, as they pay 
the debt of nature and are carried to their last resting-place 
in accordance with the national customs, with the respect 
or the indifference the nation shows for its dead. 

If one is to arrive at a correct idea regarding the life and 
habits of the Japanese people it is, I think, essential to get 
away from the ports and large towns where they have been 
influenced by or brought much into contact with Europeans, 
and see them as they really are, free from conventionalities, 
artificialities, and the effects of Western habits and customs 
which have undoubtedly been pronounced in those centres 
where Europeans congregate. 

The house in Japan does not play the important part it 

63 



64 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

does in this country. When a man in England, whatever 
his station in life may be, contemplates taking a wife and 
settling down, as the phrase goes, the home and the 
contents thereof become an all-important matter and one 
needing much thought and discussion. In Japan there is 
no such necessity. A Japanese house is easily run up — 
and taken down. The " walls " are constructed of paper 
and slide in grooves between the beams of the floor which 
is raised slightly above the ground. The partitions 
between the rooms can easily be taken down and an 
additional room as easily run up. The house is, as a rule, 
only one storey high. The carpets consist of matting only, 
and practically no furniture is necessary. A witty writer 
on Japan has aptly and wittily remarked that " an English- 
man's house may be his castle, a Japanese's house is his 
bedroom and his bedroom is a passage." The occupant of 
this house sits on the floor, sleeps on the floor, and has his 
meals on the floor. The floor is kept clean by the simple 
process of the inhabitants removing their boots, or what 
do duty for boots, and leaving them at the entrance, so as 
to avoid soiling the matting with which the floor of each 
room is covered. This is a habit which has much to 
commend it, and is, I suggest, worthy of- imitation by other 
countries. After all, the Japanese mode of life has a great 
deal to be said in its favour. It seems strange at first, but 
after the visitor to the country has got over his initial fit of 
surprise at the difference between the Japanese domestic 
economy and his own, he will, if he be a man of unpreju- 
diced mind, admit that it certainly has its " points." 

The bulk of the population is poor, very poor, but that 
poverty is not emphasised in their homes to the same 
extent as in European countries. The house— a doll's 
house some irreverent people term it — with paper partitions 



THE PEOPLE— THEIR LIFE AND HABITS 65 

doing duty for walls, white matting, a few cooking utensils 
costs only a few shillings. It can, as I have said, be taken 
down and run up easily, and enlarged almost indefinitely. 
The inhabitants sleep on the floor, and the bedding consists 
not as with us of mattresses, palliasses, and other more or 
less insanitary articles, but of a number, great or small, 
and elaborate or otherwise, in accordance with the means 
of the owner, of what I will term quilts. The Japanese 
pillow is a fearful and wonderful article. I can never 
imagine how it was evolved and why it has remained so 
long unimproved. It is made of wood and there is a 
receptacle for the head. The European who uses it finds 
that it effectually banishes sleep, while the ordinary 
Japanese is apparently unable to sleep without it. In 
most houses, however poor, a kakemono, or wall picture, is 
to be seen. It is usually the only decoration save an 
occasional vase containing flowers, and of course flowers 
themselves, which are in evidence everywhere. Light is, 
or used to be, given by a " lamp," a kind of Chinese lantern 
on a lacquer stand, the light being given by a rush candle. 
I am sorry, however, to say that these in some respects 
artistic lanterns are being generally replaced by hideous 
petroleum or kerosene lamps, not only ugly but a constant 
source of danger in these flimsy houses. 

The most important accessory of nearly all Japanese 
houses is the bath-room, or wash-house, to use a more 
appropriate term. The hot bath is a universal institution 
in the country, and nearly every Japanese man and woman, 
whatever his or her station in life, washes the body 
thoroughly in extremely hot water more than once daily. 
The Japanese, as regards the washing of their persons, are 
the cleanest race in the world, but many hygienic laws are 
set at defiance possibly because they are not understood. 



66 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

A gradual improvement is, however, taking place in these 
matters, and the cleanliness as regards the body and their 
houses, which is such a pleasing feature of the people, will 
no doubt extend in other directions also. 

Japanese houses are habitable enough in warm weather, 
but in winter-time they are, as might be expected, ex- 
ceedingly cold, especially as the arrangements for warming 
them are of an extremely primitive nature. Those com- 
plaints which are induced or produced by cold are 
prevalent in the country. 

The food of the people is as simple as their houses, and 
as inexpensive. A Japanese family it has been calculated 
can live on about £io a year. A little fish, rice, and 
vegetables, with incessant tea, is the national dietary. 
The people living on this meagre fare are, on the whole, 
a strong and sturdy race, but it is questionable if the 
national physique would not be vastly improved were the 
national diet also. I have touched on this matter else- 
where, so I need not refer to it further here. Tobacco is 
the constant consoler of the Japanese in all his troubles. 
Why he smokes such diminutive pipes I have never been 
able to understand. They only hold sufficient tobacco for 
a few whiffs, and when staying in a Japanese house the 
constant tap, tap, tap of the owner's pipe as he empties 
the ashes out prior to refilling it reminds one of the wood- 
pecker. 

There are doubtless some persons, especially those 
persons who consider that to enjoy life a superabundance 
or even a plethora of material comforts are necessary, who, 
after reading a description of the home and fare of the 
Japanese peasant, will assume that his life is a burden and 
that he derives no enjoyment whatever from it. Nothing 
could be more erroneous. There is probably not a more 



THE PEOPLE— THEIR LIFE AND HABITS 67 

joyous being on the face of the globe than the Japanese. 
His wants are few, and in that fact probably lies his 
happiness. He does not find his enjoyment in material 
things, but he has his enjoyment all the same, and I think 
on the whole that he probably gets more out of life and has 
more fitting ideas regarding it than the Englishman who 
considers an abundance of beef and beer its objective point. 
To me one of the most pleasing features of Japan is the 
fondness and tenderness of the Japanese of all ranks and 
classes for children. The Japanese infant is the tyrant of 
Japan, and nothing is good enough for it. The women, as 
most people know, carry their babies on their backs instead 
of in their arms. A baby is, however, not so for very 
long in Japan. Very young Japanese girls may be seen 
carrying their little baby brothers and sisters behind their 
backs, and thus learning their maternal duties in advance. 
The position of women in Japan, married women, is not so 
satisfactory as it ought to be. The laws in regard to 
divorce are, I think, too easy, and a Japanese possesses 
facilities for getting rid of his wife which does not tend to 
the conservation of home-life. The custom, which was at 
one time universal, of women blackening their teeth, has 
largely diminished, and will no doubt in due course become 
obsolete. The idea which underlay it was that the woman 
should render herself unattractive to other men. There 
was no object in having such an adventitious attraction as 
pearly teeth for her husband, who might be presumed to 
know what her attractions really were. The Japanese 
woman in her education has inculcated three obediences, 
viz., obedience to parents, obedience to husband, and after 
the death of the latter obedience to son. Although the 
Japanese girl comes of age at 14 she cannot marry without 
her father's consent until she is 25. 



68 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

The dress of the Japanese people is so well known that 
it is not necessary for me to describe it. The kimono is, 
I think, a graceful costume, and I am very sorry that so 
many women in the upper classes have discarded the 
national dress for European garments. Japanese woqmen 
who wear the national costume do not don gloves. If 
their hands are cold they place them in their sleeves, 
which are long and have receptacles containing many and 
various things, including a pocket-handkerchief, which is 
usually made of paper, and sometimes a pot of lip-salve to 
colour the lips to the orthodox tint. The poorer classes, 
of course, do not go in for such frivolities. Talking of 
paper handkerchiefs reminds me of the innumerable uses 
to which paper is put in Japan ; it serves for umbrellas 
and even for coats, and is altogether a necessity of exist- 
ence almost for the great mass of the people. 

I have referred to the lack of what may be deemed 
material comforts in Japan, as also to the fact that the 
Japanese are a joyous race but that their enjoyment is not 
of a material nature. They are, in fact, easily amused, 
and their enjoyment takes forms which would hardly 
appeal to a less emotional people. In the large towns 
the theatre is a perennial source of amusement. I have 
referred to the theatre in the chapter dealing with the 
drama, and remarked therein that the excess of by-play, 
irrelevant by-play, in a Japanese drama was rather 
wearisome to the European spectator. Not so to the 
Japanese. He positively revels in it. The theatre is for 
him something real and moving. He has, whatever his 
age, all the zest of a youth for plays and spectacles. How 
far the Europeanising of the country, which is having, and 
is bound still further to have, an effect on dramatic art, 
will affect the amusements of the people and their prone- 



THE PEOPLE— THEIR LIFE AND HABITS 69 

ness for the theatre remains to be seen. There is so far 
nothing approaching the EngHsh music-hall in Japan. 
Let me express a hope that there never will be. It is a 
long cry from the graceful Geisha to the inanities and 
banalities which appear to be the stock-in-trade of music- 
hall performances in this country. These appear to meet 
a home want, but I sincerely trust they will be reserved 
for home delectation and not be inflicted in any guise 
upon Japan. The matter of music-halls suggests some 
reference to the ideas of the Japanese in respect of music. 
The educated classes appear to have an appreciation of 
European music, but Japanese music requires, I should 
say, an educational process. Some superficial European 
writers declare that the Japanese have not the least con- 
ception of either harmony or melody, and that what 
passes for music in the country is simply discord. It 
might have struck these writers that criticism of this kind 
in reference to a most artistic people could hardly be 
correct. Any one who has listened to the Geisha or 
heard the singing of trained Japanese would certainly not 
agree in such statements as I have referred to. Japanese 
music is like Japanese art- — it has its own characteristics 
and will, I am sure, repay being carefully studied. 

Festivals and feasts, religious and otherwise, which are 
many and varied, afford some relaxation for the people. 
There are, according to a list compiled, some 28 religious 
festivals, 16 national holidays, and 14 popular feast-days. 
New Year's Day is termed Shihohai, and on it the 
Emperor prays to all his ancestors for a peaceful reign. 
Two days subsequently, on Genjisai, he makes offerings to 
him and all his Imperial ancestors, while two days later 
still all Government officers make official calls. These are 
legal holidays. The nth of February (Kigen Setsu) and 



70 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

the 3rd of April (Jimmu-Tenno-sai) are observed as the 
anniversaries respectively of the accession to the throne and 
the death of Jimmu-Tenno, the first Emperor. The 17th 
of October (Shinsho-sai) is the national harvest festival. 
On this day the Emperor offers the first crop of the year 
to his divine ancestor, Tenshoko Daijin. It may be inter- 
esting to record that the 25th of December (Christmas Day), 
is observed as a holiday by the Custom-house department 
" for the accommodation of foreign employees." 

The popular festivals are equally interesting and curious. 
The 3rd of March (Oshinasama), is the girls' or dolls' festival, 
while the 5th of May (Osekku), is the boys' festival, or Feast 
of Flags. A three days' festival, I3th-I5th of July (Bon 
Matsuri), is the All Souls' Day of Japan in honour of the 
sacred dead. The 9th of September (Kikku No Sekku), is 
the festival of chrysanthemums, the national flower, and 
the 20th of November, appropriately near the Lord Mayor 
of London's day, is the festival held by the merchants in 
honour of Ebisuko, the God of Wealth. The Feast of 
Flags — the boys' festival — is one much esteemed by the 
Japanese people. On the occasion of it every house the 
owner of which has been blessed with sons displays a 
paper carp floating from a flagstaff. If' a male child has 
come to the establishment during the year the carp is 
extra large. It is considered a reproach to any married 
woman not to have this symbol flying outside the house 
on the occasion of this feast. Why the carp has been 
selected as a symbol is a matter upon which there is much 
difference of opinion. The carp, it is said, is emblematic 
of the youth who overcomes all the difficulties that lie in 
his path during life, but I confess I rather fail to see what 
connection there is between this fish and such an energetic 
youth. On this day the boys have dolls representative of 



THE PEOPLE— THEIR LIFE AND HABITS 71 

Japanese heroes and personages of the past as well as toy- 
swords and toy armour. On the girls' festival — the Feast 
of Dolls — there is no outward and visible display. The 
fact of a girl having been born in the family is not con- 
sidered a matter to be boasted of On this feast there is 
a great display indoors of dolls. As a matter of fact dolls 
form a very important part of the heirlooms of every 
Japanese family of any importance. When a girl is born 
a pair of dolls are procured for her. Dolls are much 
more seriously treated than they are in European countries, 
where they are bought with the full knowledge that they 
will quickly be destroyed. In Japan the dolls are packed 
away for nearly the whole of the year in the go-down, and 
are only produced at this particular festival. I may add 
that not only the dolls themselves but furniture for them 
are largely in request in Japan, and that this dolls' festival 
is really a very important function in the national life. 

New Year's festival is the great day of the year in Japan. 
In this respect it approximates to our Christmas. Not 
only the houses but the streets are decorated, and every 
town in the land has at this particular season an unusually 
festive appearance. At this period visits are exchanged, 
and New Year's presents are the correct thing. 

On the Bon Matsuri, or All Souls' Day, the Japanese 
have a custom somewhat similar to that which obtains in 
Roman Catholic countries on the 2nd of November. On 
the first night of the feast the tombs of the dead during 
the past year are adorned with Japanese lanterns. On the 
second night the remaining tombs are likewise decorated, 
while on the third night it is the custom, although it is 
now somewhat falling into desuetude, for the relatives of 
the dead to launch toy vessels made of straw laden with 
fruit and coins as well as a lantern. These toy ships 



72 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

have toy sails, and the dead are supposed to sail in them 
to oblivion until next year's festival. These toy ships, of 
course, catch fire from the lanterns. Not so very many 
years ago the spectacle of these little vessels catching fire 
on some large bay was a very pretty one. I am afraid 
this feast has a tendency to die out — a fact which is greatly 
to be regretted, as there is behind it much that is poetical 
and beautiful. 

Wrestling, as most people know, is a favourite amusement 
of the Japanese, and wrestling matches excite quite as 
much interest as boxing used to do in this country. Of 
late years English people have taken much interest in 
Ju Jitsu. The Japanese style of wrestling is certainly 
peculiar, and training does not apparently enter so much 
into it as is considered essential in reference to displays of 
strength or skill in this country. One sometimes sees 
very expert Japanese wrestlers who are not only fat but 
bloated. 

The Japanese have long been celebrated archers, and 
archery, though it is largely on the wane, is much more in 
evidence than is the case in this country. It is an art 
in which a great many of the people excel, and archery 
grounds still exist in many of the towns. , 

Marriages and christenings have important parts in the 
social life of the people. These ceremonies, however, are 
not quite so obtrusive as they are in Western lands. As 
regards christenings, if I may use such a term in reference 
to a non-Christian people, the first, or almost the first, 
ceremony in reference to the infant in Japan is, or used 
to be, the shaving of its head thirty days after birth, after 
which it was taken to the temple to make its first offering, 
a pecuniary one, to the gods. This shaving of babies is 
no doubt diminishing, at any rate in the large towns. 




STREET SCENE ON NEW YEAR'S DAY 

FROM A PRINT BY HIROSHIGE 



THE PEOPLE— THEIR LIFE AND HABITS 73 

Indeed, everything in regard to the dressing of and dealing 
with the hair in Japan is, if I may use the term, in a state 
of transition. 

Some writers on Japan have been impressed by the fact 
that the Japanese appear to be more concerned about the 
dead than the living. Ancestor worship plays an important 
part in the religious economy of Japanese life, and, as I 
have shown, the All Souls' Day in Japan is an important 
national festival. But the respect that these people have 
for their dead is not shown only on one or two or three 
days of the year ; it may be deduced from a visit to any 
of their cemeteries. These are nearly always picturesquely 
situated, adorned with beautiful trees, and exquisitely kept 
in order. Indeed, the cemeteries are in striking contrast 
to those of European countries. The hideous and inartistic 
tombstones and monuments, the urns and angels, and the 
stereotyped conventionalities of graveyards in this country 
are all absent. There is usually only a simple tablet over 
each grave bearing the name of the deceased and the date 
of his death, and occasionally some simple word or two 
summing up succinctly those qualities he had, or was sup- 
posed to have, possessed. Near each grave is usually a 
flower-vase, and it is nearly always filled with fresh flowers. 
As I have remarked, flowers play an important part in 
the lives of the Japanese people, and with them no part is 
more important than the decoration of the graves of their 
dead. In England flowers also play an important part in 
connection with the dead — on the day of the funeral. It 
is then considered the correct thing for every one who 
knew the deceased to send a wreath to be placed upon his 
coffin. These wreaths, frequently exceedingly numerous, 
are conveyed to the cemetery, where they are allowed to 
rot on top of the grave. To me there is no more mournful 



74 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

sight than a visit to a great London cemetery, where one 
sees these rotting emblems, which quite palpably meant 
nothing save the practice of a conventionality. The 
Japanese, however poor his worldly circumstances may be, 
is not content with flowers, costly flowers on the day of 
the funeral ; he places his vase alongside the grave of the 
departed, and by keeping that vase filled with fresh and 
beautiful flowers he sets forth as far as he possibly can his 
feeling of respect for the dead and the fact that the dead 
one still lives in his memory. 

One cannot study, however cursorily, the lives of the 
Japanese people on the whole without being convinced 
of the fact that there is among them not only a total 
absence of but no desire whatever for luxury. The whole 
conception of life among these people seems to me to be 
a healthy and a simple one. It is not in any way, or at 
any rate to any great extent, a material conception. The 
ordinary Japanese — the peasant, for example — does not 
hanker after a time when he will have more to eat and 
more to drink. He finds himself placed in a certain 
position in life, and he attempts to get the best out of 
life that he can. I do not suggest, of course, that the 
Japanese peasant has ever philosophically discussed this 
matter with himself or perhaps thought deeply, if at all, 
about it. I am merely recording what his view of life is 
judging by his actions. He, I feel confident, enjoys life. 
In some respects his life no doubt is a hard one, but it has 
its alleviations, and if I judge him aright the ordinary 
Japanese does not let his mind dwell overmuch on his 
hardships, but is content to get what pleasure he can out 
of his surrounding conditions. 

One very pleasing characteristic of the Japanese men 
and women to which I have already referred is the habit 



THE PEOPLE— THEIR LIFE AND HABITS 75 

of personal cleanliness. In every town in the country 
public baths are numerous, and every house of any pre- 
tensions has a bath-room. The Japanese use extremely 
hot water to wash in. The women do not enter the bath 
immediately upon undressing, but in the first instance, 
throwing some pailsful of water over the body, they sit on 
the floor and scrub themselves with bran prior to entering 
the bath, performing this operation two or three times. 
Men do not indulge in a similar practice, and I have never 
been able to understand why this different mode of bathing 
should obtain in reference to the two sexes. In houses 
possessing a bath-room the bath consists merely of a wooden 
tub with a stove to heat the water. The bath is used by 
the whole family in succession — father, mother, children, 
servants. Shampooing also forms an important part of 
the Japanese system of cleanliness. It is not, as in this 
country, confined to the head, but approximates to what 
we term massage, and consists in a rubbing of the muscles 
of the body — a fact which not only has a beneficial effect 
physically, but is also efficacious in the direction of clean- 
liness. 

Nearly every house in Japan possesses a garden, and the 
garden is a source of perpetual delight to every Japanese. 
He is enabled to give full vent therein to his love of 
flowers. Some critics have found fault with Japanese 
gardens on account of their monotony. Miniature lakes, 
grass plots, dwarfed trees, and trees clipped and trained 
into representations of objects animate and inanimate are 
the prevailing characteristics. A similar remark might, 
however, be made in regard to the gardens of, say, London 
suburban houses, with this exception — that the Japanese 
gardens show infinitely more good taste on the part of the 
cultivators of them. These little gardens throw a bright- 



76 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

ness into the life of the people which it is impossible to 
estimate. 

In the chapter which I have devoted to the religions of 
the Japanese people, I have remarked that religion appears 
to be losing its influence upon the educated classes of the 
country, who are quickly developing into agnostics. No 
such remark can, however, be made in reference to the 
great mass of the Japanese people. For them religion is 
an actuality. Take it out of their lives and you will take 
much that makes their lives not only enjoyable but endur- 
able. As a writer on Japan has somewhat irreverently 
observed, the Japanese " is very chummy with heaven. 
He just as readily invokes the aid of his household gods 
in the pursuit of his amours as in less illegitimate aspira- 
tions. He regards them as kind friends who will help, 
rather than as severe censors who have to be propitiated." 
The spiritual aspect of the Deity has not, I think, entered 
at all into the conceptions of the ordinary Japanese. His 
ideas in regard to God or the gods — his pantheon is a large 
and a comprehensive one — are altogether anthropomorphic. 
Every action of his life, however small, is in some way or 
other connected with an unseen world. In this matter, 
Buddhism and Shintoism have got rather mixed, and, as I 
have elsewhere said, if the founder of Buddhism were re- 
incarnated in Japan to-day, he would find it difficult to 
recognise his religion in some of the developments of 
Buddhism as it exists in Japan. Nevertheless, this 
anthropomorphic idea of God, however it may fit the 
Japanese for the next world, undoubtedly comforts him 
in this. The religious festivals, which are numerous, are 
gala days in his life, and the services of religion bring him 
undoubtedly much consolation. But he does not of neces- 
sity go to a temple to conduct that uplifting of the heart 



THE PEOPLE— THEIR LIFE AND HABITS 77 

which is, after all, the best service of man to the Creator. 
Every house has its little shrine, and although some 
superior persons may laugh at the act of burning a joss- 
stick, or some other trivial act of worship, as merely 
ignorant superstition, I think the unprejudiced man would 
look rather at the motive which inspired the act. If this 
poor ignorant native burns his joss-stick, makes his 
offering of a cake, lights a lamp in front of an image, or 
takes part in any other act which in effect means the 
lifting up of his soul to something higher and greater than 
himself that he can now only see through a glass darkly, 
surely he ought not to be condemned. At any rate I 
will pass no condemnation on him. Outside the accre- 
tions which have undoubtedly come upon Buddhism and 
Shintoism in the many centuries they have existed in 
Japan, I desire once more to emphasise the fact, to 
which I have previously made reference, that both these 
religions have had, and I believe still have, a beneficial 
effect, from a moral point of view, on the Japanese 
people. There is nothing in their ethical code to which 
the most censorious person can raise the slightest ob- 
jection. They have inculcated on the Japanese people 
through all the ages, not only the necessity, but the 
advisability of doing good. Buddhism, in particular, has 
preached the doctrine of doing good, not only to one's 
fellow-creatures but to the whole of animate nature. 
These two religions have, in my opinion, placed the 
ethical conceptions of the Japanese people on a high 
plane. 

In my remarks on the people of Japan I do not 
think I can more effectually sum up their salient 
characteristics than has been done by the writer of a 
guide to that country. " The courtly demeanour of the 



78 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

people," he says, " is a matter of remark with all who visit 
Japan, and so universal is the studied politeness of all 
classes that the casual observer would conclude that it 
was innate and born of the nature of the people ; and 
probably the quality has become somewhat of a national 
characteristic, having been held in such high esteem, 
and so universally taught for so many centuries — at least, 
it seems to be as natural for them to be polite and 
formal as it is for them to breathe. Their religion 
teaches the fundamental tenets of true politeness, in that 
it inculcates the reverence to parents as one of the 
highest virtues. The family circle fosters the germs of the 
great national trait of ceremonious politeness. Deference 
to age is universal with the young. The respect paid to 
parents does not cease when the children are mature 
men and women. It is considered a privilege as well 
as an evidence of filial duty to study the wants and 
wishes of the parents, even before the necessities of the 
progeny of those who have households of their own." 

I do not think that it is necessary for me to add 
much to these wise and pregnant remarks. The more 
one studies the Japanese people, the more I think one's 
admiration of them increases. They have, in my opinion, 
in many respects arrived, probably as the result of the 
accumulated experience of many ages, at a right percep- 
tion and conception of the philosophy of life. Judged 
from the highest, and as I think only true, standpoint, 
that is the standpoint of happiness not in a merely 
material but in a spiritual form, they have reached a con- 
dition that but few nations have yet attained. They may 
provoke the pity of the man who believes in full diet and 
plenty of it, and who fails to comprehend how a people 
living on a meagre fare of fish and rice can be con- 



THE PEOPLE— THEIR LIFE AND HABITS 79 

tented, much less happy, but the Japanese in his 
philosophy has realised a fact that happiness is some- 
thing other than material, and that a man or woman can 
be largely independent of the accidentals of life and 
can attain a realisation of true happiness by keeping 
under the, too often, supremacy of matter over mind in 
the average human being. 



CHAPTER VII 

TRADE-— COMMERCE— AND INDUSTRIES 

NOTHING is perhaps so strongly indicative of the 
progress that Japan has made as the record of her 
trade and commerce. I have no intention of inflicting on 
my readers a mass of figures, but I shall have to give a few 
in order to convey some idea as to the country's material 
development of recent years. Japan, it must be recollected, 
is in her youth in respect of everything connected with 
commerce and industry. When the country was isolated 
it exported and imported practically nothing, and its pro- 
ductions were simply such as were necessary for the 
inhabitants, then far less numerous than at present. When 
the Revolution took place trade and corrtmerce were still 
at a very low ebb, and the Japanese connected with trade 
was looked upon with more or less of contempt, the soldier's 
and the politician's being the only careers held much in 
esteem. For innumerable centuries the chief industry of 
Japan was agriculture, and even to-day more than half 
of the population is engaged thereon. Partly owing to 
religious influences, and partly from other causes, the 
mass of the people have been, and still are in effect, 
vegetarians. 

The present trade of Japan is in startling contrast with 

80 



TRADE— COMMERCE— AND INDUSTRIES 81 

that of her near neighbour China, which, with an area 
about twenty-three times greater, and a population nearly 
nine times as large, has actually a smaller volume of 
exports. All the statistics available in reference to Japan's 
trade, commerce, and industries point to the enormous and 
annually increasing development of the country. Indeed, 
the trade has marvellously increased of recent years. Since 
1890 the annual value of Japan's exports has risen from 
;^5,ooo,ooo to ;^3 5,000,000, the imports from ;^8,ooo,ooo 
to i^44,ooo,ooo. That the imports will continue in similar 
progression, or indeed to anything like the same amount, 
I do not believe. Japan of recent years has imported 
machinery, largely from Europe and America, and used it 
as patterns to be copied or improved upon by her own 
workmen. Out of 25 cotton-mills, for example, in Osaka, 
the machinery for one had been imported from the United 
States. The rest the Japanese have made themselves from 
the imported pattern. There were also in Osaka recently 
30 flour-mills ready for shipment to the wheat regions of 
Manchuria. One of these mills had been imported from 
America, while the remaining 29 have been constructed in 
Osaka at a cost for each of not more than one-fifth that 
paid for the imported mill. 

Shortly after peace had been declared between Russia 
and Japan, the Marquis Ito is reported to have said to 
Mr. McKinley : " You need not be afraid that we will 
allow Japanese labourers to come to the United States. 
We need them at home. In a couple of months we 
will brin^ home a million men from Manchuria. We are 
going to teach them all how to manufacture everything in 
the world with the best labour-saving machinery to be 
found. Instead of sending you cheap labour we will sell 
you American goods cheaper than you can manufacture 




82 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

them yourselves." The Japanese Government seems to 
some extent to be going in for a policy of State Socialism. 
The tobacco trade in the Empire is now entirely 
controlled by the Government. The Tobacco Law 
extinguished private tobacco dealers and makers, the 
Government took over whatever factories it deemed suit- 
able for the purpose, built others, and now makes a profit 
of about ;^3,ooo,ooo sterling annually, while the tobacco 
is said to be of a superior quality and the workmen better 
paid than was the case under private enterprise. How far 
Japan intends to go in the direction of State Socialism 
I am not in a position to say. Many modern Japanese 
statesmen are quite convinced of the fact that the private 
exploitation of industry is a great evil and one that ought 
to be put a stop to. On the other hand, there are 
Japanese statesmen who are firmly convinced that the 
State control of industries can only result in the destruction 
of individual initiative and genius, with the inevitable 
result of reducing everybody to a dead level of incom- 
petence. In this matter Japan will have, as other nations 
have had, to work out her own salvation. In the process 
of experiment many mistakes will no doubt be made, but 
Japan starts with this advantage in respect of State 
Socialism, precisely as in regard to her Army and Navy — 
that her statesmen, her leading public men, her great 
thinkers, have no prejudices or preconceived ideas. All 
they desire is that the nation as a whole shall boldly 
advance on that path of progress by the lines which shall 
best serve to place the country in a commanding position 
among the Great Powers of the world, and at the same 
time to promote the happiness, comfort, and prosperity of 
the people. 

The Japanese are great in imitation, but they are 



TRADE— COMMERCE— AND INDUSTRIES 83 

greater perhaps in their powers of adaptation. They have 
so far shown a peculiar faculty for fitting to Japanese 
requirements and conditions the machinery, science, 
industry, &c., necessary to their proper development. 
Japan is without doubt now keenly alive, marshalling all 
her industrial forces in the direction of seeking to become 
supreme in the trade and commerce of the Far East. The 
aim of Japanese statesmen is to make their country 
self-productive and self-sustaining. We may, I think, 
accordingly look forward to the time, not very far distant, 
when Japan will cease to import machinery and other 
foreign products for which there has hitherto been a 
brisk demand, when she will build her own warships and 
merchant steamers, as she now partially does, and 
generally be largely independent of those Western Powers 
of which she has heretofore been such a good customer. 

At the present time the chief manufactures of the 
country are silk, cotton, cotton yarn, paper, glass, porce- 
lain, and Japan ware, matches and bronzes, while ship- 
building has greatly developed of recent years. The 
principal imports are raw cotton, metals, wool, drugs, 
rails and machinery generally, as well as sugar and, 
strange to say, rice. Japan exports silk, cotton, tea, coal, 
camphor and, let me add, matches and curios. The trade 
in the latter has assumed considerable proportions, and I 
fear I must add that much of what is exported is made 
exclusively for the European market. According to the 
latest figures, the country's annual exports amounted to 
about ;^3 5,000,000, and its imports to about ;£'44,ooo,ooo. 
I venture to prophesy that these figures will ere long be 
largely inverted. 

Silk is the most important item of Japan's foreign trade. 
The rearing of silkworms has been assiduously undertaken 



84 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

from time immemorial, or " the ages eternal " according to 
some Japanese historians. Like so many other arts and 
industries of the country, silkworms are believed to have 
been introduced from China. For some time prior to the 
opening of Japan to European trade and influences the 
silk industry had rather languished owing to the enforce- 
ment of certain sumptuary laws confining the wearing of 
silk garments to a select class of the community, but so 
soon as Japan discarded her policy of isolation from the 
rest of the world the production of and demand for silk 
rapidly increased, and the trade in it has now assumed 
considerable dimensions. Strange to say, silk is still in 
Japan what linen was at one time in the North of Ireland 
— a by-industry of the farmer, a room in his house being 
kept as a rearing chamber for the silkworms, which are 
carefully looked after by his family. According to official 
returns, there are rather more than two and a half million 
families so engaged, and nearly half a million silk manu- 
facturers. The largest part of the silk exported goes to 
the United States of America. Closely allied with the 
production of silk is the mulberry-tree, the leaves of which 
form the staple food of the silkworm. This plant is 
cultivated with great care throughout the country, and 
indeed there are many mulberry farms entirely devoted to 
the culture of the tree and the conservation of its leaves. 

Rice, as I have elsewhere stated, forms the principal 
article of food of the Japanese people. Japan at present 
does not produce quite sufficient rice for the consumption 
of her population, and a large quantity has, accordingly, 
to be imported. The danger of this for an island country 
has been quite as often emphasised by Japanese statesmen 
as the similar danger in respect of the wheat supply of 
Great Britain has been by English economists. Many 



TRADE— COMMERCE— AND INDUSTRIES 85 

practical steps have been taken on the initiative of the 
Japanese Government in the direction of improving the 
cultivation of rice, the irrigation of the fields, &c. As time 
goes on no doubt the food of the people will become more 
varied. Indeed, there has been a movement in that direc- 
tion, especially in the large towns. A nation which largely 
lives on one article of diet, the production of which is 
subject to the vicissitudes of good and bad harvests, is, it 
must be admitted, not in a satisfactory position in reference 
to the food of its people. 

If rice is the national food, tea is emphatically the 
national beverage, despite the large consumption of sake 
and the increasing consumption of the really excellent beer 
now brewed in Japan. Like most other things, the tea- 
shrub is said to have been imported into Japan from China. 
Almost since the opening of the country, the United 
States has been Japan's best customer in respect of tea, 
and she has from time to time fallen into line with the 
requirements of the United States Government in regard 
to the quality of tea permitted to be imported into that 
country. For instance, when, in 1897, the United States 
Legislature passed a law forbidding the importation of tea 
of inferior quality and providing for the inspection of all 
imported tea by a fixed standard sample, the Tea Traders 
Association of Japan established tea inspection offices in 
Yokohama and other ports, and all the tea exported from 
the country was and still is passed through these offices. 
The tea is rigidly tested, and if it comes up to the required 
standard is shipped in bond to the United States. The 
quality of the tea is thus amply guaranteed, and it, accord- 
ingly, commands a high price in the American Continent. 
The value of the tea exported to the United States 
amounts to something like ;^ 1,200,000, and there are no 



86 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

signs of any falling off in the demand for it. Canada is 
also a good customer of Japan for the same article, but 
Great Britain and the other European countries at present 
take no Japanese tea. I do not know why this is the case 
as the tea is really excellent, and it has, as regards what is 
exported, the decided advantage of being inspected by 
experts and the quality guaranteed. The tea industry is 
undoubtedly one of great national importance, the total 
annual production amounting to about 65,000,000 pounds, 
the greater portion of which is, of course, consumed in the 
country. 

I have already referred to the importance of Japanese 
arboriculture, and to the steps taken by the Japanese 
Government in reference to the administration of forests 
and the planting with trees of various parts of the country 
not suitable for agriculture. The State at the present time 
owns about 54,000,000 acres of forests, which are palpably 
a very great national asset. I may mention that the 
petroleum industry is growing in Japan. The quantity of 
petroleum in the country is believed to be very great, and 
every year new fields are being developed. The consump- 
tion of oil by the people is considerable, and it is hoped 
that ere long Japan will be able to produce all that she 
requires. The petroleum is somewhat crude, providing 
about 50 per cent, of burning oil. 

Tobacco, as I have elsewhere remarked, is now a State 
monopoly, and forms a considerable item in the State 
revenue. The quality has much improved since the 
manufacture of it has ceased to be a private industry. The 
Japanese are inveterate smokers, and the intervention of 
the State in this matter, although it has been criticised by 
political economists in the country and out of it, and is 
undoubtedly open to criticism . from some points of view, 



TRADE—COMMERCE— AND INDUSTRIES 87 

has, I think, been justified by results. The making of 
sugar from beetroot has been attempted in Japan, but the 
results have not been over-successful. The efforts in this 
direction are, however, being persisted in, and it is hoped 
that, especially in Formosa, the beet-sugar industry may 
develop in importance. 

The manufacture of paper in Japan has long been an 
important national industry. Paper has been and still is 
used there for many purposes for which it has never been 
utilised in European countries. Originally it was largely 
made from rice, and the mulberry shrub has also been 
used for paper manufacture. The rise and development 
of a newspaper press in Japan and the impetus given to 
printing has, of course, largely increased the demand for 
paper. This is being met by the adaptation of other 
vegetable products for the purpose of making paper, and it 
seems quite certain that Japan will be totally independent 
of any importation of foreign paper to meet the great and 
greatly increasing demand for that article in the country. 

Salt is, I may remark, a Government monopoly in Japan. 
No one except the Government, or some person licensed by 
the Government, is allowed to import salt from abroad, 
while no one can manufacture salt without Government 
permission. Salt made by salt manufacturers is purchased 
by the Government, which sells it at a fixed price. This 
particular monopoly has only recently been established, 
and the reason put forward for it is a desire to improve 
and develop the salt industry and at the same time to 
add to the national revenue. Whether a monopoly in 
what is a necessary of life is economically defensible is a 
question, to my mind, hardly open to argument. That the 
revenue of the country will benefit by the salt monopoly is 
unquestionable. 



88 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

As might have been expected, the opening up of Japan 
to Western influences has induced or produced, inter alia^ 
some Western forms of political and social and, indeed, 
socialistic associations. The antagonism between capital 
and labour and the many vexed and intricate questions 
involved in the quarrel are already beginning to make 
themselves felt in Japan. It was, I suppose, inevitable. 
Labour is an important factor in an industrial nation like 
Japan, and there is already heard the cry — call it fact or 
fallacy as you choose — with which we are now so familiar 
in this country and on the Continent, that labour is the 
source of all wealth. Japan will no doubt, like other 
countries, sooner or later have to face a solution of the 
problems involved in these recurring disputes and this 
apparently deep-rooted antagonism between the possessors 
of wealth and the possessors of muscle. Already many 
associations have been established whose aim and object is 
to voice the sentiments of labour and assert its rights. 
Indeed, there is a newspaper, the Labour Worlds the cham- 
pion of the rights of the Japanese workmen. So far the 
law in Japan does not regard with as tolerant an eye as is 
the case in this country labour demonstrations and the 
occasionally reckless oratory of labour champions. The 
police regulations forbid the working classes embarking in 
collective movements and demonstrating against their 
employers in the matter of wages and working hours. A 
suggestion of a strike of workmen is officially regarded 
with an unfriendly eye, and strikes themselves, picketing, 
and various other Western methods of coercing employers 
to come round to the views of the employed, would not at 
present be tolerated in Japan. No doubt these Western 
devices will assert themselves in time. The attempt to 
keep down the effective outcome of labour organisation in 




RICE PLANTING. PROVINCE OF HOKI 



FROM A I'RINT BY HIROSHIGE 



TRADE— COMMERCE— AND INDUSTRIES 89 

a country with an enormous labour population is not 
likely to be successful for long. Socialism is making great 
progress in Japan, and the State has, whether consciously 
or not, given it a certain amount of countenance by the 
steps it has taken in reference to the tobacco and salt 
industries, &c. The extent to which newspapers are now 
read in Japan — a matter I refer to more fully in another 
chapter — will undoubtedly tend to mould public opinion to 
such a degree that no Government could afford to resist it. 
The trade, commerce, and industries of Japan appear to 
me to be, on the whole, in a healthy and flourishing con- 
dition. In them, and of course in her industrious popula- 
tion, Japan possesses a magnificent asset. The country is 
rich in undeveloped resources of various kinds, the people 
are patriotic to a degree, and I feel sure that the additional 
burdens which the recent war with Russia has for the 
time entailed will be cheerfully borne. I am confident, 
moreover, that under the wise guidance of the Emperor 
and her present statesmen Japan will make successful 
efforts to liquidate her public debt, to relieve herself of her 
foreign liabilities, and generally to proceed untrammelled 
and unshackled on that path of progress and material 
development that, I believe, lies before her. and which 
will, I am sure, at no far-distant date place her securely 
and permanently in the position of one of the Great World 
Powers. 



CHAPTER VIII 

japan's financial burdens and resources 

THERE are a good many people, some so-called 
financial experts among the number, who are of 
opinion, and have expressed themselves to that effect, 
that the financial position of Japan is an unsound one. 
They depict that country as weighed down with a load of 
debt, mostly incurred for her warlike operations against 
Russia, and the revenue as largely mortgaged for the 
payment of the interest on that debt. Some of these 
experts have told us that the facility with which Japan 
was able to raise loans on comparatively moderate terms 
in the European money-markets, and the rush that was 
made by investors to subscribe to her loans, are matters 
which must have a baneful effect on the rulers of Japan. 
These latter, we are assured, found themselves in the 
position not only of being able to raise money easily, but 
of positively having to refuse money which was forced 
upon them by eager investors when the Japanese loans 
were put upon the market. The result was, so it has 
been said, to encourage extravagance in expenditure and 
to lead Japan to suppose that whenever she wanted money 
for any purpose she had only to come to Europe and 
ask for it. The financial experts who so argue, if such 

90 



FINANCIAL BURDENS AND RESOURCES 91 

puerile assertions can be dignified by the name of argu- 
ment, talk as if Japan were like a child with a new toy. 
The Japanese statesmen — in which term I of course include 
the Mikado, one of the world's greatest statesmen — are by 
no means so simple as some of these financial experts 
would have us believe. Indeed, I will go further, and 
venture to assert that the statesmen are far more astute 
than the experts. The former emphatically know what 
they are about, financially and otherwise, and they are 
assuredly in no need of any Occidental giving them a 
lead in the matter. If I desired to adduce any evidence 
on that head I need only point to the Financial and 
Economical Annual of Japan^ published every year at 
the Government printing office in Tokio. This exhaustive 
work deals with the different departments of Government. 
The section I have before me, which is for the year 1905, 
treats of the Department of Finance and it certainly serves, 
and very effectively serves, to show that the Japanese are 
not, as they so often have been depicted, children in 
matters of this kind. This Government handbook is not 
only exhaustive but illuminative. Published in English, 
everything of which it treats is explained in simple and 
concise language. There is an entire absence of that 
official jargon which tends, even if it is not intended, to 
render Government publications in this country unintel- 
ligible to the ordinary reader. The plain man who 
peruses this Japanese year-book can at least understand 
it, and he will, among other things, grasp the fact that 
the Japanese have got the whole question of finance in 
all its ramifications at their fingers' ends. 

The total National Debt of Japan in 1905 amounted to 
994,437,340 yen, or, roughly, ;^ 100,000,000 sterling — a sum 
which the publication I have referred to works out to be 



92 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

at the rate of 1 9*548 yen, or about 39s. per head of the 
population. Of the debt some ;^43,ooo,ooo was incurred 
to defray a part of the cost of the war with Russia. As 
an indication of the estimate of the credit of Japan within 
her own territory as well as abroad, I may record the fact 
that the Exchequer Bonds which were issued in the 
country in 1904 and 1905 for the purpose of defraying 
the extraordinary expenses of the war were largely over- 
subscribed, the first issue to the extent of 452 per cent, 
the second 322 per cent, the third 246 per cent, and the 
fourth 490 per cent — a record surely ! Abroad Japan's 
loans were no less successful. The three issues made 
in Europe during the war were literally rushed for by the 
investing public, with the result that whereas in May, 1904, 
Japan offered for subscription a loan of ;£" 10,000,000, 
the issue price being ;^93 los. and the rate of interest 
6 per cent., in March, 1905, despite the fact of two previous 
loans and the exhaustion of the country incidental to a 
long and expensive war, she was able to place on the 
market a loan of thirty millions at 4J per cent interest, 
the issue price being ;^90. 

A National Debt which amounts to less than £2 per 
head of the population compares very favourably with 
that of Great Britain, which totals up to something like 
£i<^ per head, leaving out of account the immense and 
yearly growing indebtedness of our great cities and towns. 
Furthermore, almost the whole of the National Debt of 
this country, as of the European Powers generally, has 
been incurred not only for unproductive, but as a matter of 
fact for destructive purposes. The vast loans of Europe 
have been raised for the purpose of waging bloody wars, 
some at least of which history has pronounced to have 
been gigantic, not to say wicked, blunders. Much of the 



FINANCIAL BURDENS AND RESOURCES 93 

National Debt of Japan, on the contrary, has been incurred 
for useful, productive, and even remunerative purposes — 
improving the means of transport, constructing railways, 
&c. The various loans outstanding up to the year 1887, 
on which Japan was paying very high rates of interest, as 
much as 9 per cent, on one foreign loan, were in that year 
converted and consolidated by the issue of a loan bearing 
interest at the rate of 5 per cent, per annum — a proceeding 
which materially improved Japan's financial position and 
demonstrated that her credit stood high. 

The war with China in 1894-5 necessitated fresh bor- 
rowing to the amount of over ;£" 12,000,000. Subsequent 
loans were issued in order to extend the railway system 
of the country and so develop its trade, for such 
public works as the establishment of a steel foundry, the 
extension of the telephone system, the introduction of 
the leaf tobacco monopoly, for the development of Formosa 
and, another most important matter, the redemption of 
paper-money. In the early days of her expansion Japan 
suffered greatly from the evils of inconvertible paper- 
money and strenuous efforts had for a long time been made 
by the Government for the redemption of the paper- 
money and the improvement of the general financial con- 
dition. In 1890 it was found that the reserve fund kept in 
the Treasury for the exchange of paper-money of i yen 
and upwards was insufficient to meet the demand. To 
meet this emergency, the maximum amount of convertible 
bank-notes issued by the Bank of Japan against securities 
was increased from 70,000,000 yen (;^7, 169,927) to 
85,000,000 yen (;^8,7o6,34o), of which sum 22,000,000 yen 
were advanced to the Government without interest. This 
sum added to the original reserve fund of 10,000,000 yen 
(;f 1, 024,275) was employed for completing the redemp- 



94 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

tion of paper-money of i yen and upward. Subsequent 
loans for the purposes of the war with Russia I have 
already referred to. Besides funded Japan has also, 
like this country, had experience of unfunded debt in the 
shape of Treasury Bills, temporary loans from the Bank 
of Japan, &c. Financial operations of this kind are, 
however, I imagine, necessary for all Governments to 
meet current expenses. To briefly recapitulate Japan's 
indebtedness and borrowings generally up to the end of 
March, 1905, these amounted to, in all, i^ 140,045,030, of 
which sum ;^38, 187,369 has from time to time been paid 
off, leaving a balance of ^^101,857,661 owing by the 
nation. 

When we consider that for this large, but not unduly 
large, sum Japan has waged two considerable wars, and 
raised herself to the position of a great naval and military 
Power, that she has developed and organised a magnificent 
Army, provided herself with a strong, efficient, and 
thoroughly up-to-date Navy, has constructed railways and 
public works, and generally has placed herself in a 
capital position to work out her own destiny free from 
the fear of foreign interference, I altogether fail to see how 
she can be accused of financial extravagance. There is 
certainly no extravagance in the administration of her 
finances. London might, I suggest, learn much from 
Tokio in this matter. The system of financial check and 
thorough and rapid audit of public accounts is in Japan as 
near perfection as anything of the kind can be. Though 
the late war did produce, as I suppose all wars do, pecu- 
lation, most of it was discovered and the punishment of 
the culprits was sharp and decisive. There was no oppor- 
tunity for financial scandals in the campaign with Russia 
such as occurred during the South African War. Every 



FINANCIAL BURDENS AND RESOURCES 95 

country, of course, produces rogues, and war seems, inter 
alia^ to breed roguery on a large scale, but in the Japanese 
methods of finance the checks are so effective that roguery 
in the public services has a bad time of it in war as well 
as in peace. 

As I have already remarked, I am of opinion the debt of 
Japan is by no means excessive, especially in view of the 
fact that a large part of it has been devoted to purposes 
which are profitable. The debt works out, as I have 
shown, at something under £2 per head of the population, 
and that population is steadily increasing. That Japan is 
well able to pay the interest on her debt there can be no 
question whatever, and that when the present debt becomes 
due for redemption she will be able to raise the necessary 
funds for that purpose on terms even more favourable than 
those at which she has hitherto placed her loans I am 
confident. I must emphasise the fact, since so many 
persons seem to be oblivious of it, that this is no mush- 
room South American Republic borrowing money merely 
for the purpose of spending it on very unproductive and 
occasionally very doubtful objects, but a Great World 
Power sensible of its obligations, sensible likewise of the 
policy and necessity of maintaining the national credit, and 
confident that the national resources and the patriotism 
of its people will enable it not only to bear the present 
financial burdens but even greater, should these be found 
necessary for the defence of the country or for its 
development. 

The ability of a nation as of an individual to discharge 
its debts depends of course upon its resources. No man 
possessing even a perfunctory knowledge of the resources 
of Japan would surely venture to express alarm at the 
increase in her debt and scepticism as to her being able to 



96 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST ^ 

meet the annual interest on that debt as well as the 
constantly increasing expenses of administration. The 
resources of the country have, in my opinion, as yet 
scarcely been realised, and certainly have not been any- 
thing like fully developed. And when I use the word 
resources I do not employ it as it is so often employed in 
respect of minerals, although the mineral wealth of Japan 
is considerable. Her resources, as I estimate them, are to 
be found in her large and rapidly increasing population— a 
population perhaps the most industrious in the world, 
persevering, enterprising, methodical, and performing, 
whatever be its appointed task, that task with all its 
might as a labour of love, in fact, not as the irksome toil 
of the worker who is a worker simply because he can be 
nothing else. It is this great industrial hive which in the 
near future will supply China and other Eastern countries 
with all, or nearly all, those articles they now obtain else- 
where. What I may term the European industries of 
Japan have of recent years been largely developed or 
evolved. Take, for example, an item, insignificant in one 
way — that of matches. In 1904 matches to the value of 
9,763,860 yen, or, roughly, one million sterling, were 
exported, and, strange to relate, European clothing to 
the value of 287,464 yen. 

The glib people who talk about Japan biting off more 
than she can chew, and with a light heart borrowing money 
she will find a difificulty in repaying, have apparently not 
grasped the fact that Japan possesses many very eminent 
financiers who have quite as much, if not more, claim to be 
considered financial experts than some of those gentlemen 
who pose in that capacity here in England. The Japanese 
financiers have, moreover, the advantage of an intimate 
knowledge of their own country and its potentialities. 



FINANCIAL BURDENS AND RESOURCES 97 

The Japanese Government has always had the benefit of 
the advice of these singularly able men, and the result 
has been that its financial operations of recent years at any 
rate have invariably been well organised and skilfully and 
economically effected. I cannot speak too highly of the 
capacity shown by the Japanese in everything relating to 
banking. The Banks — of course I refer to the National 
Banks and not to the European Banks having branches 
in the country — have very quickly attained a high status 
in the International Banking world, and are undoubtedly 
on a very firm financial basis. And there are many great 
houses in Japan which, although not ostensibly bankers, 
cannot be left out of consideration in any remarks on this 
head. They occupy a position somewhat analogous to 
that of the Rothschilds in this country. Let me take for 
example the house of Mitsui, the name of which constantly 
crops up in Japanese finance. 

The history of this ancient house has much that is 
picturesque about it, reminding one of the old merchant 
princes of Venice. The family originally belonged to the 
Jujiwara clan, and its origin is traced back to a certain 
Mitsui who lived as a feudal lord in the fifteenth century. 
At the time of the fall of the Ashikaja Shogun he lived in 
a state of perpetual war, and the god of war was not pro- 
pitious to him. He retired to a neighbouring village and 
became the overlord of the district. He was succeeded 
by his son, who removed to Matsusuzaka, where he settled 
down as a private citizen and man of business, and laid 
the foundations of the present Mitsui house. In the 
middle of the sixteenth century his descendant became 
a merchant. His son moved to Kyoto, where he started 
a large goods store, which is represented in Tokio to-day 
by the Mitsui Hofukuten. Subsequently, at the beginning 



98 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

of the seventeenth century, a member of the same house 
invented and introduced the system of retaihng for cash, 
which was an absolute revolution of business methods at 
that time in Japan. In addition to that he organised an 
excellent system for the remittance of money from one 
part of the country to the other, as also a carrier's business 
— two very remarkable facts when one remembers in what 
a primitive and elementary condition of development the 
monetary business of Japan was at that period. In the 
year 1687 the Mitsuis were appointed by the Government 
purveyors and controllers of the public exchange, and in 
recognition of the excellent manner in which the duties 
were performed, they were given the grant of a large 
estate in Yeddo. 

In 1723 the head of the family, carrying out the verbal 

wishes of his father, assembled his brothers and sisters 

and then and there drew up in writing a set of family 

rules which have ever since been practically the articles of 

association of the house of Mitsui, These rules embodied 

on business-like lines and in business-like language the 

principle that the family and not the individual forms 

the ultimate union in Eastern life. It was not one or the 

other of the six brothers of which the , family consisted 

when these rules were drawn up that was to trade, but the 

whole family as one unit. There was to be unlimited 

liability as far as the property of each one was concerned, 

and the profits of all were to be divided. This agreement 

is the identical one under which the great house of Mitsui 

is run to-day. Under it the family prospered exceedingly, 

so that when Japan decided to take on some portion of 

Western civilisation, the Mitsuis acted a§ the principal 

financial agents of the Government, and it was mainly 

owing to the enormous financial resources of the house 



FINANCIAL BURDENS AND RESOURCES 99 

placed by them at the disposal of the Government that 
the country was enabled at the period of the revolution to 
pass successfully through what might have been a most 
disastrous crisis. As some reward for the great services 
rendered at the time, the present head of the house was 
created a peer. Since the opening of Japan to Western 
influence the business of the Mitsuis has enormously 
increased, and has been extended in various directions. 
In 1876 their money exchange business was converted 
into a Bank on the joint stock system, but with unlimited 
liability as far as the Mitsui family was concerned. In the 
same year, for the purpose of engaging in general foreign 
trade, the Mitsui Bussan Kwiasha was formed, better 
known in Europe and America as Mitsui & Co. In 1899 
the family acquired from the Government the concession 
of the Meike coal-mines, and there was then formed the 
Mitsui Kaishan, or Mining Department, which has the 
management of this mining concession together with 
many others which have since been acquired. 

To-day the house of Mitsui consists of eleven families 
under a system of joint liability bound together by the 
old rules drawn up close upon two centuries back. The 
wealth of the collective families is unquestionably great, 
and the confidence of the people of Japan in this great 
financial firm is shown by the immense amount of money 
it holds on deposit. In one or other branches of their 
varied businesses they give employment to a very large 
number of persons. They have initiated an exceedingly 
interesting system of insurance for their employees. Each 
is allowed 10 per cent, interest on his wages up to three 
years on condition of its being deposited in the Mitsui 
Bank, with the proviso that the sum shall be forfeited in 
case of the embezzlement of any of the Company's money. 



100 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

During the late war, as well as in that with China, the 
Mitsui house had immense transactions with the Govern- 
ment in providing war material, steamers for transport, 
supplies, &c., and their magnificent organisation enabled 
them to carry out their various undertakings without the 
slightest hitch. I may also add that the name of Mitsui 
headed the various charitable funds which were started in 
the country in connection with the war. I am sure that 
this necessarily imperfect sketch of this famous Japanese 
house will convince my readers of the fact that in finance, 
as in other respects, Japan has already shown a capacity 
for holding her own with Western nations. 

I have headed this chapter " Japan's Financial Burdens 
and Resources," but I am not quite sure that the word 
" burdens " is not a misnomer. Japan appears to me — 
and I may claim to have studied the matter with some 
little attention — to have no financial burdens, if burdens 
be taken to mean something that is inconveniently felt, 
that is difficult to carry. There is here no people weighed 
down under the crushing incubus of debt. There is a 
springiness and alertness, a go-ahead energy about the 
nation — symptoms not usually connected with the carrying 
of burdens. Japan seems to me to be in somewhat 
the same position in regard to finance as France was 
after the close of the war with Germany when the former 
nation found itself saddled with a tremendous debt 
incurred for war expenditure and the indemnity which 
had to be paid to the conquering nation. The fact, 
however, as we all know, instead of depressing the French 
people seems to have put the whole country on its 
mettle, with the result that the heavy interest of the 
enormous debt was easily met and effective steps taken 
to reduce the principal. The borrowings of Japan in 



FINANCIAL BURDENS AND RESOURCES 101 

Europe in the future are likely to be small, because 
she will be able to obtain what she needs at home, and 
provided she is not drawn into any war she will find 
her expanding revenue sufficient not only for the 
current expenses of administration as well as for the 
interest on her debt, but over and above all this enabling 
her year by year to provide a sinking fund which will 
in due course materially reduce even if it does not entirely 
extinguish the national indebtedness. In my opinion 
Japan can look forward to its financial future with 
equanimity. In regard to its financial past it has the 
satisfaction of thinking that heavy in one sense though 
its financial obligations be they have not at any rate been 
squandered for unworthy purposes. 



CHAPTER IX 
EDUCATION 

IN England a vast amount was last year heard respecting 
education. Speakers on platforms and writers in 
newspapers and other periodical literature day by day 
and week by week for many months kept pouring forth 
words, words, words on this matter. It is not my 
intention to refer at all beyond what I have said to the 
sorhewhat lively education controversy in England which 
even as I write is by no means ended. Any such reference 
would be out of place in a book of this kind, and even 
were it not I confess I have no inclination whatever to 
rush into this particular fray. But it seems to me a 
curious fact that other countries, JapaLn amongst the 
number, have long since settled, and apparently settled 
satisfactorily, a problem which here in England is still 
under discussion, acrid discussion, and is yet quite 
evidently far from being permanently solved. The 
provisions and arrangements a nation has made for the 
education of its youth are, to my mind, an excellent test 
of the precise standard to which its civilisation has 
attained ; because the future of a nation is with its 
youth, and that future must largely depend on the 
extent to and the manner in which its youth have been 

102 



EDUCATION 103 

taught not only ail those subjects which are commonly 
classified as knowledge but their duties and responsibilities 
as citizens. Judged by this test, Japan has every right 
to rank high among the nations of the world. And it 
can also be said of her in this matter that the education 
of her people is no new thing. It is not one among 
the many things she has learned from the West. 
Education was in vogue in Japan when that country was 
isolated from the rest of the world. Certainly Japan's 
contact with Europe and America has vastly improved her 
educational system, enabling her, as it has done, to utilise 
to the full the great advance there has been in scientific 
knowledge of every description during the last half-century 
or so. But, as far back as the seventh century, if history 
or tradition be correct, an educational code was promul- 
gated in Japan. Certainly this code was limited in its 
application to certain classes, but education was gradually 
extended throughout the country, and even in days 
somewhat remote from the present time every member 
of the Samurai class was expected to include the three 
R's, or the Japanese equivalent of them, in his curriculum. 
The ordinary Samurai was, in fact, as regards reading 
and writing an educated man at a time when British 
Generals and even British Sovereigns were somewhat 
hazy in regard to their orthography and caligraphy. 

Soon after the Revolution of 1868 a Board of Education 
was instituted in Japan, and the whole educational system 
of the country — because one had existed under the rule 
of a Tycoon — was taken in hand and reorganised. Three 
years later a separate Department of Education was 
formed at a time almost synonymous with the setting 
up of School Boards in England. As soon as it got 
itself into working order the Education Department 



104 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

despatched a number of specially selected Japanese to 
various European countries as well as to the United 
States of America to inquire into and report upon the 
system of education in existence and its suitability for 
adaptation or adoption in Japan. When these represen- 
tatives returned from their mission and sent in their 
reports a code was compiled and the Mikado, in promul- 
gating it, declared the aims of his Government to be 
that education should be so diffused throughout the 
country that eventually there might not be a village 
with an ignorant family nor a family with an ignorant 
member. It was a noble ideal, and I may remark that, 
though of course it has not been realised in all its 
fulness and probably will not be for very many years 
to come, it has been to a larger extent attained than a 
somewhat similar ideal which the late Mr. Forster is 
supposed to have entertained in reference to the effect 
of the Education Act which established a system of 
compulsory education for England and Wales. 

In succeeding years various changes were made in 
the system of national education, and in 1883 that 
which now exists was brought into force. This is in 
effect compulsory education. Since education was first 
organised on any plan in Japan the number under 
instruction has steadily risen, and at present more than 
90 per cent, of the children regularly attend school. 
In 1873 the number was 1,180,000; it is now over 
5,000,000. There are about 29,000 primary schools, of 
which about 6,500 are higher primary schools with a 
million pupils. The total cost of the primary schools 
is somewhere about ;^3, 000,000. 

The question will no doubt be asked. What kind of 
education do these 5,000,000 pupils receive, and to 



EDUCATION 105 

what extent is it adapted to make them good citizens 
of a great Empire ? The subjects taught in the ordinary 
primary schools embrace morals, the Japanese language, 
arithmetic and gymnastics. One or more subjects, such 
as drawing, singing, or manual work may be added, 
and, in schools for females, sewing. In the higher primary 
schools the subjects of instruction include morals, the 
Japanese language, arithmetic, Japanese history, geo- 
graphy, science, drawing, singing, and gymnastics, and, 
in schools for females, sewing. Besides these agriculture, 
commerce, and manual work, as well as the English 
language, are optional subjects. The moral lessons taught 
in these schools, I may remark, are not based upon any 
particular religious doctrines or dogmas, but are entirely 
and absolutely secular. 

Children have to be 6 years of age before commencing 
their scholastic education, and have to remain at school 
until they have attained 14 years. The parents or 
guardians of children are compelled to send them to 
school to complete, as a minimum of education, the 
ordinary primary school course. Education in the higher 
primary schools is not compulsory, and it is, accordingly, 
a pleasing fact that 60 per cent, of those children who 
have passed through the ordinary schools voluntarily go 
to the higher primary schools. 

Every municipal or rural community is compelled to 
maintain one or more primary schools sufficient, as regards 
size and the number of the staff, to educate all the 
children in the district. The establishment of higher 
primary schools is voluntary, and that so many of them 
are in existence is ample proof that the benefit of higher 
education is fully appreciated in Japan. Instruction in 
all the schools is practically free. No fee may be charged 



106 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

save with the consent of the local governor, and when one 
is imposed it must not exceed the equivalent of 5d. per 
month in a town school and half that sum in a rural school. 

As regards secondary education, it is compulsory for 
one school to be established in each of the forty-seven 
prefectures into which Japan is divided. The course of 
study at the secondary schools extends over five years, 
with an optional supplementary course limited to twelve 
months. The curriculum of the secondary school em- 
braces morals, the Japanese and Chinese languages, one 
foreign language, history and geography, mathematics, 
natural history, physics and chemistry, the elements of 
law and political economy, drawing, singing, gymnastics, 
and drills. The course of study is uniform in all Japanese 
schools. Candidates for admission to the secondary 
schools must be over 12 years of age, and have com- 
pleted the second year's course of the higher primary 
school. There are about three hundred of the secondary 
schools in existence — a number, as will be seen, six times 
as large as that obliged to be established by law. The 
pupils number over a hundred thousand and the cost 
approximates ;^ 5 00,000. 

There are also 170 high schools for girls besides normal 
schools in each prefecture designed to train teachers for 
the primary and secondary schools. The course of study 
in these schools is for men four years, for women three 
years. The whole of the pupils' expenses, including the 
cost of their board and lodging, is paid out of local funds. 
There are also higher normal schools designed to train 
teachers for the ordinary normal schools. It will thus be 
seen that there is a systematic course of education for 
what I may term the common people in Japan, extending 
from the higher normal to the ordinary primary school. 



EDUCATION 107 

There are besides in Japan higher schools, the object of 
which is to prepare young men for a University educa- 
tion. The expense of these schools is entirely borne by 
the State. Japan prides herself, and justly, in being 
unique in the possession of such schools. The course of 
study in them extends over three years and is split up 
into three departments. The pupils select the particular 
department into which they desire to enter, and their 
selection, of course, depends on the precise course of study 
they intend to take up on entering the University. The 
first department is for those who propose to study law 
or literature, the second for those who mean to go in 
for engineering, science, or agriculture, and the third for 
aspirants as medical men. Candidates for admission to 
these schools must be over 17 years of age and have 
completed the secondary school course. 

A reference to these higher schools naturally leads up 
to the Imperial University of Tokio, as well as the 
kindred University at Kyoto. There are six colleges in 
the former, viz., law, medicine, engineering, literature, 
science, and agriculture, while Kyoto University possesses 
four colleges, viz., law, medicine, literature and science, and 
engineering. When the Imperial University was estab- 
lished almost all the Professors therein were Europeans 
or Americans, but there has been a material alteration 
in this respect, and now the foreign Professors are few. 
Most of the Japanese instructors have, however, been 
educated abroad. The course of study extends over four 
years in the case of students of law and medicine, and 
three years in the case of students of other subjects. There 
is not the same freedom in regard to study as exists at 
Oxford, Cambridge, and some other more or less leisurely 
seats of learning. In the Japanese Universities the 



108 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

students have to enter upon a regular prescribed course 
of study with some few optional subjects. The Univer- 
sities confer degrees in law, medicine, engineering, litera- 
ture, science, and agriculture. The examinations leading 
up to and for the degrees are much more severe than 
those in any University in this country, with the possible 
exception of that of London. It may interest my readers 
to learn that the largest number of degrees are taken in 
law, the smallest in science. We have heard a great deal 
of recent years respecting technical education in Great 
Britain, which many persons suggest is at a very low ebb. 
For what is in one sense a new country, Japan seems 
to have taken steps to provide an excellent system of 
technical education. There are a small number of State 
higher technical schools, agricultural, commercial, and 
industrious. Technical schools of lower grades are main- 
tained by prefectures and urban bodies, and they receive 
grants in aid from national funds. There are in all about 
four hundred technical schools in the country. The few 
facts respecting education in Japan which I have put as 
tersely as possible before my readers, should, I think, con- 
vince them of the fact that in regard to this all-important 
question Japan has made and is making vigorous efforts — 
and efforts all of which are in the right direction. It must 
be remembered that in the education of her youth she 
has to face difficulties which are altogether unknown in 
this as in other European countries. One of these diffi- 
culties is the fact that Japanese literature is more or less 
mixed up with Chinese literature, and, accordingly, it is 
necessary for the Japanese to learn Chinese as well as 
Japanese characters, and also to study the Chinese classics. 
Another difficulty is the one I touched on in my remarks 
on the Japanese language, viz., the difference between the 



EDUCATION 109 

written and spoken languages of Japan. In old times 
the written and spoken languages were no doubt identical, 
but Chinese literature influenced the country to so great 
an extent that the written language in time became more 
and more Chinese, while the spoken dialect remained 
Japanese. The consequence is that the written language 
is more or less a hotch-potch of Chinese characters 
and the Japanese alphabet. Whether it will be possible 
to overcome these obvious difficulties remains to be seen. 
Several remedies have been proposed but none has so far 
been adopted. One remedy was the use of the Japanese 
alphabet alone for the written language, another the 
introduction and adoption of the European alphabet. 
Manifestly the difficulty of effecting such a change as the 
adoption of either of these plans would involve would be 
enormous. Still the retention of the present complicated 
system is without doubt the great obstacle in the way of 
educational progress in Japan, and it speaks eloquently 
for the patience and pertinacity of the youth of that 
country that they have effected so much in so short a 
time in view of the difficulties that have had to be 
encountered. 

The strong points of the youth of Japan in the matter 
of education are, in my opinion, their great powers of 
concentration and their indomitable application to study 
and perseverance in whatever they undertake. Of their 
powers of absorption of any subject there can be no 
question. It has been urged, as against this, that the 
Japanese possess the defect not uncommon among people 
of any race, viz., that the capacity for rapidly assimilating 
knowledge is to some extent counteracted or rendered 
abortive by an incapacity to practically apply that know- 
ledge. I may say for myself that though I have often 



110 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

heard this objection urged I have not seen any indications 
of this lack of ability to practically apply knowledge on 
the part of the Japanese. I should have thought that the 
Russo-Japanese war would have afforded ample demon- 
stration of the ability of the Japanese to put to good 
account the knowledge they had acquired and assimilated 
in their seminaries. 

I certainly think that the system of education, as it 
exists in Japan to-day, is one not only admirably adapted 
for the people of that country, but one from which some 
Western nations might learn a few things. Japan has, in 
her education system, settled the religious question simply 
by ignoring it. Her morality as inculcated in every school 
in the country, is a purely secular morality. I know that 
there are some persons who will deem secular morality a 
contradiction in terms. Indeed there are many eminent 
Japanese who do not approve of the present system. 
Count Okuma, for example, one of the ablest men in the 
country, bewails the lack of a moral standard. The 
upper classes have, he remarks, Chinese philosophy, the 
great mass of the people have nothing. In the Western 
world, he points out, Christianity supplies the moral 
standard, while in Japan some desire to return to old 
forms, others prefer Christianity ; some lean on Kant, 
others on other philosophers. Christianity may supply 
the moral standard in the Western world, as Count 
Okuma asserts, but if he has studied recent politics in 
a particular part of the Western world, he must have seen 
that Christianity in that part is by no means in accord as 
to the teaching of religion in its schools, or what moral 
code, if any, should be substituted for dogmatic instruction. 
Perhaps, after all, Japan has not decided amiss in for the 
present at any rate deciding that secular morality shall 




AMATEUR CONCHOLOGISTS 

FROM A PRINT BY HIROSHIGE 



EDUCATION 111 

be the only ethical instruction given in her schools. That 
code which she teaches, so far as I have had an oppor- 
tunity of studying it, is one which contains nothing that 
could be in the slightest degree objected to by the votaries 
of any religious system either in the East or in the West. 
Although it has no direct connection with morality, 
secular or otherwise, it may be of interest if I give here a 
synopsis of the teaching given in Japanese schools in 
reference to the behaviour of the pupils towards foreigners. 
These rules have been collected by an English newspaper 
in Japan, and they certainly serve to show that the youth 
of Japan are in this matter receiving instruction which, 
whether regarded from an ethical standpoint or merely 
that of good manners, cannot be too highly commended. 
" Never call after foreigners passing along the streets or 
roads. 

" When foreigners make inquiries, answer them politely. 
If unable to make them understand, inform the police of 
the fact. 

"Never accept a present from a foreigner when there is 
no reason for his giving it, and never charge him anything 
above what is proper. 

" Do not crowd around a shop when a foreigner is making 
purchases, thereby causing him much annoyance. The 
continuance of this practice disgraces us as a nation. 

" Since all human beings are brothers and sisters, there 
is no reason for fearing foreigners. Treat them as equals 
and act uprightly in all your dealings with them. Be 
neither servile nor arrogant. 

"Beware of combining against the foreigner and dis- 
liking him because he is a foreigner ; men are to be judged 
by their conduct and not by their nationality. 

" As intercourse with foreigners becomes closer and 



112 THE EMPIRE OP THE EAST 

extends over a series of years, there is danger that many 
Japanese may become enamoured of their ways and customs 
and forsake the good old customs of their forefathers. 
Against this danger you must be on your guard. 

" Taking off your hat is the proper way to salute a 
foreigner. The bending of the body low is not to be 
commended. 

" When you see a foreigner be sure and cover up naked 
parts of the body. 

" Hold in high regard the worship of ancestors and treat 
your relations with warm cordiality, but do not regard a 
person as your enemy because he or she is a Christian. 

" In going through the world you will often find a know- 
ledge of a foreign tongue absolutely essential. 

" Beware of selling your souls to foreigners and becoming 
their slaves. Sell them no houses or lands. 

" Aim at not being beaten in your competition with 
foreigners. Remember that loyalty and filial piety are our 
most precious national treasures and do nothing to violate 
them." 

It seems to me a pity that education on somewhat 
similar lines to that embodied in these interesting rules 
cannot be imparted to the youth of this and other 
European countries. It would certainly tend, I think, in 
the direction of good manners which are, I fear, sadly lack- 
ing in many of the pupils who have undergone a course of 
School Board instruction in England. 

A question that may arise in regard to the details of 
Japanese education is how far and in what degree do the 
pertinacity and zeal of the youth of Japan for knowledge 
affect their physique. We know that mens sana in corpore 
sano is the ideal at which every one concerned with the 
education of young people of both sexes ought to strive, 



EDUCATION 113 

There is no doubt whatever that too close an attention to 
study of any kind, too constant an exercise of the mental 
faculties, unless it is accompanied by a corresponding 
exercise of the body, very often has an injurious effect 
upon the human frame. Count Okuma, in referring to this 
matter, has pointed out that the great difficulty of the 
difference between the written and spoken languages is a 
very serious tax upon the pupils in all the schools, 
necessitating, as it does, the duplicating of their work. So 
much time, he considers, has to be spent by them in study 
on account of this duplicating that it is quite impossible 
for students to have sufficient physical exercise, while if it 
were decided to devote more time to exercise, the years 
allotted to education would have to be lengthened — a fact 
which must involve a serious loss in regard to the work of 
the nation. I do not take quite such a pessimistic view 
of the lack of physical education of the youth of Japan. In 
the first place, gymnastics form part, an important part, 
of the course of instruction in all schools throughout the 
country, and in the next place the young people of Japan, 
so far as I have been able to arrive at an opinion in the 
matter, are almost if not quite as enthusiastic in regard to 
various forms of outdoor sport as are those of this country. 
The buoyancy and enthusiasm of youth are, indeed, very 
much the same all over the world. It is only when youth 
comes to what are very often erroneously described as 
years of discretion that artificiality begins to assert itself 
Base-ball, lawn-tennis, bicycling, and rowing are all exten- 
sively patronised by the young men of Japan, and cricket 
has of recent years come considerably into vogue. The 
students of the Imperial University have not only shown 
no disinclination, but, on the contrary, an avidity to com- 
bine athletics with their studies, and in base-ball especially 
I 



114 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

they have more than held their own against the 
foreigner. I confess I have no desire to see the craze for 
outdoor sports which is so much in evidence in this 
country extending to Japan. Some of the public schools 
in England are much more famous for their cricket, foot- 
ball, and other teams than for the education imparted in 
them. Many a young man leaves those schools an 
excellent cricketer or football player, but, from an educa- 
tional point of view, very badly equipped for the battle of 
life. The happy mean is surely the best in this as in other 
matters, and I venture to think that the youth of Japan in 
regarding education as the essential matter and outdoor 
sport as merely a subsidiary one have shown sound 
judgment. 

In my remarks on education in Japan I have dealt 
principally with the schools for boys. I may, however, 
remark that in the arrangements she has made for the 
education of the other sex she has shown the same 
thoroughness. In the primary schools the boys and girls 
are taken in without any distinction, though separate 
classes are usually formed. There are subsequently higher 
schools for girls. The percentage of the female sex attend- 
ing these schools is less than that of the other. There are 
in all about seventy-five of these schools in Japan with 
some twenty thousand pupils. The course of instruction 
in them is moral precepts, Japanese language, a foreign 
language, history, geography, mathematics, science, draw- 
ing, training for domestic affairs, cutting-out and sewing, 
music and gymnastics. I think in regard to these schools 
the Japanese authorities have shown sound judgment in 
decreeing that music shall not necessarily form part of the 
education of every young girl, but may be omitted for 
those pupils for whom the art may be deemed difficult. 



EDUCATION 115 

Were a similar rule to be adopted in this country quite a 
number of people would be saved a large amount of 
unnecessary torture. There is also a higher normal school 
for women at Tokio, as likewise an Academy of Music. 
The Tokio Jiogakkwan is an institution established by 
some foreign philanthropists for the purpose of educating 
Japanese girls of a respectable class in Anglo-Saxon 
attainments. This institution has between two and three 
hundred pupils, but I am not in a position to state what 
measure of success, if any, it has achieved, nor indeed do 
I know what " Anglo-Saxon attainments " are supposed 
to be. Many of them I should have thought were quite 
unsuitable for the ordinary Japanese girl, tending, as they 
must, to destroy her national individuality. There is also 
a girls' college in Tokio called the Women's University. 
It does not confer degrees, but it gives a very high educa- 
tion, and it is largely patronised. 

I stated at the commencement of this chapter that I 
was of opinion the provisions and arrangements a nation 
had made for the education of its youth were an excellent 
test of the standard to which its civilisation has attained. 
I hope the slight sketch I have given my readers of the 
system of education in existence in Japan will enable them 
to form an estimate as to the place Japan should occupy 
if judged by the standard referred to. In my opinion, 
seeing that it is less than forty years since the country 
passed through a drastic revolution — a revolution which 
destroyed all these social forces which had been in exist- 
ence and had exercised a tremendous influence on the life 
of the people for many centuries — it is, I think, not only 
extraordinary but highly creditable to her rulers that 
Japan should have in that short interval organised and 
perfected such a system of education as exists in the 



116 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

country to-day. Under that system every boy and girl 
in the land receives an admirable course of instruction, and 
is afforded facilities for still further extending and enlarg- 
ing that course, and, if his or her abilities, ambitions, and 
opportunities incline them that way, to proceed steadily 
onward in the acquisition of knowledge, until they obtain 
as a coping stone, that final course, in the capital either at 
the Imperial University or the Women's University where 
the sum of all the knowledge of the world is at the disposal 
of those who have the capacity and the aspiration to 
acquire it. 



CHAPTER X 

THE JAPANESE ARMY AND NAVY 

A WORK on Japan which did not include some 
reference to the Army and Navy would manifestly 
be incomplete. It is hardly any exaggeration to assert 
that nothing in regard to the metamorphosis of Japan has 
so impressed the Western mind as the extraordinary 
progress of its naval and military forces. Both in this 
country and on the Continent it was, of course, known that 
Japan had been for years evolving both an Army and 
Navy, but I imagine most persons thought that this action 
on her part was merely a piece of childish extravagance, and 
that her land and sea forces would, if they were ever pitted 
against Europeans, prove as impotent as Orientals nearly 
always have proved. I am quite aware that naval and 
military experts of various nationalities who had studied 
matters on the spot were of a different opinion. They 
witnessed the high state of efficiency of both the Japanese 
Army and Navy, the patriotic spirit of the officers and 
men, their enthusiasm for their work, and that universal 
feeling of bravery, if it be bravery, which consists in an 
absolute contempt of life. Still I think, even to the 
experts, the splendid organisation and overwhelming 
superiority of Japan in her encounter with China came 

117 



118 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

as somewhat of a surprise. The complete victory of the 
Island Nation in that struggle was, I know, to a certain 
extent discounted in some quarters by the stories that 
were published as to the wretched condition of both the 
Chinese Army and Navy, their utter unfitness and unpre- 
paredness for war, the incompetence and corruption of 
the officers, and so on. There were many otherwise well 
informed persons who felt confident that though Japan had 
experienced little or no difficulty in mastering China, the 
case would be different when, if ever, she was involved in 
war with a European power. I do not think these doubts 
were prevalent or indeed present at all, in the minds of 
the naval and military authorities. No responsible states- 
man or official in Japan desired war. The Japanese are 
not in any sense a bellicose people. Still, the statesmen 
of the country were fully alive to the fact that it might be 
necessary to fight for the national existence. They had 
had experience in the past of the ambition of Russia to 
aggrandise herself at the expense of Japan. They saw, 
or thought they saw, that Russia had designs on Korea, 
and they were determined to frustrate those designs, and 
so perhaps obviate in the best manner possible future 
attempts on the independence of Japan itself. And hence 
it came about that serious efforts were directed to create 
an Army and Navy strong and efficient. 

The creation, or perhaps it would be more correct to say 
the reorganisation, of the Army was entrusted, soon after 
the Revolution of 1868, to a few European officers, and 
it has proceeded throughout on European lines. The task 
was not so difficult as might have been expected. In 
old Japan the terms " soldier " and " Samurai " were 
synonymous, and the security of the territory of each 
of the great feudal princes depended on the strength 



THE JAPANESE ARMY AND NAVY 119 

of his army. The Continental system of conscription 
was adopted and still obtains. All Japanese males 
between the ages of 17 and 40 are liable to military 
service. The Service is divided into Active, Landwehr, 
Depot, and Landsturn services. The Active service is 
divided into service with the colours and service with 
the first reserve. The former is obligatory for all who 
have reached the full age of 20 years, and such service 
is for a period of three years. Service in the first re- 
serve is compulsory for all who have finished service 
with the colours, and lasts for a period of four years and 
four months. The Landwehr reserve is comprised of 
those who have finished the first reserve term, and it 
continues for a period of five years. The Depot service 
is divided into two sections. The first, which lasts seven 
years and four months, is made up of those who have 
not been enlisted for Active service, while the second, 
extending over one year and four months, consists of 
those who have not been enlisted for first Depot service. 
The Landsturn is in two divisions — one for those who 
have completed the term of Landwehr service and the 
first Depot service, and the second for all who are not 
on the other services. This system of conscription, of 
course, lends itself to criticism, and it has been criticised 
by the military experts of great military nations, but 
on the whole it has been proved by the experience of 
the two wars in which Japan has been involved during 
the last twelve years to have worked well, and it prob- 
ably answers as well as any system that could be de- 
vised, the needs of the country, and the characteristics 
of the people thereof. The Japanese are, as these 
recent wars amply demonstrated, patriotic to a degree. 
They not only have great powers of perseverance, but 



120 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

great capacities for assimilation and adaptation, and are 
considered by many military authorities probably the very 
best raw material in the world out of which to make 
soldiers. Conscription may not be an ideal system for any 
country. It is, of course, better from one point of view 
that the armed forces of a nation should voluntarily enlist 
rather than be pressed men. But conscription in Japan 
has never been, and is not likely to be, such a burden as is 
the case among some European nations. The Japanese 
idea of patriotism is something totally different to that 
which obtains in the West. The late war afforded ample 
evidence of that, were any needed. 

The war with Russia has been so recently concluded 
that it is not necessary to enter at any length into a con- 
sideration of the Japanese Army. The history of that 
war gave ocular demonstration to the European nations, 
however incredulous they may previously have been on the 
subject, that Japan was in fact a great military Power. 
In the course of that war she put in the field somewhere 
about 700,000 men, conveyed them across the sea to a 
foreign country, and showed throughout the struggle a 
capacity for the most wonderful military organisation. 
The smallest details were most carefully attended to ; there 
was an entire absence of that muddle so much in evidence 
when European nations are engaged in hostilities. Re- 
specting the fighting qualities of the Japanese soldier it is 
hardly necessary to say anything. On the field of battle 
or during the long, arduous and monotonous work of a 
siege he has shown himself alike a model soldier. Perhaps 
he has shone most in the hourof victory by his moderation. 
Every foreign officer who saw the work done by the 
Japanese Army throughout the various incidents of the 
Russian War was lost in admiration. To me the most 



THE JAPANESE ARMY AND NAVY 121 

pleasing feature of that war was the ease with which the 
soldier, on coming back to Japan, returned to the peace- 
ful pursuits of civil life. The bumptious braggadocio that 
European military nations have developed has no counter- 
part in Japan. The war was, in the estimation of the 
people, a sacred duty. The burdens which it entailed were 
cheerfully borne. The Japanese soldier bore his hardships 
or gave up his life equally cheerfully. At the same time 
the conclusion of the war came as a relief, and the mass of 
the soldiery gladly went through the Japanese equivalent 
of turning their swords into ploughshares. Japan has 
demonstrated that she is a great military nation, and the 
organisation of her Army is one that might well be studied 
by the military authorities of other countries. 

The weak point of the Japanese Army is its cavalry. 
Whether cavalry in the warfare of the future will play the 
important part that it has played in that of the past is a 
matter upon which I do not care to dogmatically pro- 
nounce, especially as military authorities are by no means 
in agreement in regard thereto, or indeed as to the precise 
functions of cavalry in military warfare. The difficulties 
of Japan in regard to organising an efficient cavalry have 
been largely, if not altogether, owing to the lack of good 
horses in the country. The Japanese horses have not been 
conspicuous for quality, while the number available has 
not been anything like sufficient to enable the cavalry to 
be brought up to a proper condition of strength and 
efficiency. The Japanese military authorities have long 
been sensible of this fact, and the late war amply demon- 
strated it. With its usual thoroughness, the Government 
has, as soon as possible after the close of the war, taken 
steps to remedy this weak point in its military system, and 
quite recently two delegates of the Ministry of Agriculture 



122 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

have been despatched to Europe on a horse-purchase 
mission. Ten million yen have, I understand, been 
apportioned for the purpose of improving the national 
breed of horses, and the delegates have been instructed to 
purchase suitable animals for breeding. The Japanese 
Government has almost invariably been successful in any- 
thing it has undertaken, and I venture to predict — it is 
scarcely a hazardous prophesy — that the horse supply of 
the country will ere long be put on a satisfactory footing 
and the cavalry be rendered as efficient as every other 
branch of the Japanese Army. 

There is no fear of a military autocracy in Japan. The 
recent war proved not only the bravery of the rank and 
file of the Army, but the high military talent of the officers. 
The art of war had evidently been studied from every 
point of view, and was diligently applied. The Japanese 
talent, in my opinion, consists not in a mere mechanical 
copying, but in a practical adaptation of all that is best in 
Western civilisation. The tactics and strategy displayed 
during the war with Russia showed originality in con- 
ception, brilliancy and daring. If that war did not 
discover a Napoleon among the Japanese generals, it 
can at least be said that Japan has no need of a 
Napoleon. As I have said, there is no fear of the 
development of a military autocracy in that country or 
the uprising of a general with Napoleonic ideas and 
ambition. The generals who justly earned distinction 
during the recent war are singularly modest men, with 
no capacity for self-advertising and no desire whatever 
for self-aggrandisement. They are not only content but 
anxious, now that the war is over, to sink into obscurity. 
History will, however, not permit of that. Their achieve- 
ments in the recent campaign will long afford subject- 



THE JAPANESE ARMY AND NAVY 123 

matter for study and the instruction of the military 
students of the future. In this book I have as far as 
possible avoided mentioning names, otherwise I would 
gladly inscribe on its pages the names of those many 
generals who earned fame in the Russo-Japanese War. 
I feel perfectly certain that every endeavour will be made 
to maintain the Japanese Army in the high state of 
efficiency it has reached. At the same time I would 
emphasise the fact that that Army is intended solely 
for defence. Japan has, in a word, no military ambitions 
outside her own territory. 

And as of the Army, so of the Navy. Perhaps the 
prowess of Japan's Fleet impressed the English people 
even more than the victories of her soldiers. Because 
the Navy, as it is to-day, is largely the outcome of 
English training and the application of English ideas. 
In the first instance Japan borrowed from the British 
Government the services of some of its best naval officers 
to develop the Japanese Navy. A naval college was 
established in the capital, modelled on the English system 
of training. A dockyard was also constructed at Yokosko 
under French guidance. It is, however, a mistake to sup- 
pose that Japan had no Navy or no ambitions in the 
direction of creating one prior to English naval officers 
being lent to the Japanese Government to assist in the 
reorganisation of the Navy. The determination to create 
a fleet on European lines was entertained by Japanese 
statesmen as far back as the 'fifties, when the European 
Powers and the United States of America were bringing 
pressure to bear on Japan with a view of obtaining trading 
facilities and the opening up of the country generally. 
The Japanese statesmen of those days were wise enough 
to see that unless Japan was to be permanently under the 



124 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

tutelage of the European Powers, it was necessary for her 
to construct a fleet and army on European lines. Soon 
afterwards a naval school, under Dutch instructors, was 
established at Nagasaki, and a certain number of selected 
officers and men were sent to Europe to undergo a course 
of instruction, and several war-vessels were ordered from 
Holland. In 1854 a two-masted ship was built in Japan 
from an English model, and subsequently two others. 
During the war between Russia and Great Britain a 
Russian sloop was wrecked on the Japanese coast, and 
permission was obtained for Japanese workmen to be 
employed in the repairs of the vessel, with a view of 
giving them an opportunity of gaining some practical 
knowledge of naval architecture. In 1855 the King of 
Holland presented a steam corvette to the Tycoon. In 
this year the now familiar Japanese ensign — a red ball 
on a white ground — was introduced, and has since remained 
the national flag. 

On the arrival of Lord Elgin in Japan on a mission in 
1857 3- sailing vessel at Nagasaki was flying the flag of an 
Admiral of the Japanese Navy. In the same year a steam 
yacht was presented to the Tycoon by the late Queen 
Victoria, and was formally handed over to the Japanese 
Government by Lord Elgin. His secretary relates that 
the yacht got under way, commanded by a Japanese 
captain and manned by Japanese sailors, while her 
machinery was worked by Japanese engineers. The 
secretary, in his account of the incident, relates that 
" notwithstanding the horizontal cylinders and other 
latest improvements with which her engines were fitted, 
the men had learnt their lesson well, and were confident 
in their powers, and the yacht steamed gallantly through 
and round the Fleet, returning to her anchorage without a 



THE JAPANESE ARMY AND NAVY 125 

hitch." This authoritative statement ought to dispose of 
the absurd story which has long been a chestnut among 
the English community in Japan and the English naval 
officers on the China station, that when the old Con- 
federate Ram, the Stonewall Jackson^ was purchased in 
America and brought to Yokohama a somewhat ludicrous 
incident occurred. According to the story, which, I may 
observe, is one of the ben trovato order, when steam was 
got up in the vessel for trial purposes it had to steam 
round and about Yokohama Harbour, to the great danger 
of the foreign warships and merchant steamers there, until 
the steam was in due course exhausted and the machinery 
automatically stopped through the lack of any motive 
power to drive it, as the Japanese engineer in charge did 
not know how to shut off steam. The Stonewall Jackson^ 
I may observe, did not take part in the now almost for- 
gotten battle of Hakodate, which took place at the time 
of the Revolution, and may be regarded as the expiring 
effort of old Japan to stay the march of events in that 
country. In the battle of Hakodate the rebel fleet was 
totally destroyed, and the various clans in the country 
who possessed war-vessels of one kind or other presented 
them to the central Government. These vessels, it must 
be confessed, were not of much, if any, utility in the direc- 
tion of forming a Navy, and I am not aware how many of 
them, or indeed whether any of them, were utilised for the 
purpose of inaugurating that Navy which has now become 
world-famous. 

In 1858 the naval school, which, as I have already 
stated, had been established at Nagasaki, was transferred 
to Yeddo, and a few years later the Japanese Government 
determined to obtain the assistance of some English naval 
officers with a view of giving instruction in the school. 



126 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

Application was accordingly made to the British Govern- 
ment through the Minister in Yeddo, and the sanction of 
the Admiralty having been obtained, a number of English 
naval officers were selected, and despatched to Japan as 
instructors in the Yeddo Naval College. Amongst these 
officers, it may be interesting to state, was Admiral Sir 
A. K. Wilson, V.C, G.C.B., the late Commander-in-Chief 
of the Channel Fleet. In the year 1873 a number of 
other naval officers were sent out from England, the pre- 
vious staff having been withdrawn on the outbreak of the 
Civil War. This staff was in charge of Admiral Sir 
A. L. Douglas, till recently Commander-in-Chief at Ports- 
mouth, and for some years subsequently an English naval 
officer was at the head of the instructing staff of the 
college. Japan was fortunate in one respect — in the 
Englishmen she entrusted with the evolution of her Navy. 
She was fortunate in attracting the men best fitted for the 
work, and also in inspiring them with a high conception of 
their task. Some Englishmen are of opinion that Japan 
has somewhat forgotten her obligations in this matter. 
Young Japan, they suggest, desires to forget the influences 
to which the country mainly owes its present magnificent 
fleet. That fleet is undoubtedly, for the most part, the 
outcome of English conceptions and English training. 
There is one man whose name, I think, deserves to be 
recorded in connection therewith. I refer to the late 
Lieutenant A. G. S. Hawes, of the Royal Marine Light 
Infantry, who left the English Service and worked 
strenuously, enthusiastically, and earnestly to build up 
^0. personnel of the Japanese Navy in the early 'seventies. 
There were others whose efforts in the same direction 
assisted in that consummation, but Hawes's services were 
unique and splendid. He believed in Japan, and he 



THE JAPANESE ARMY AND NAVY 127 

threw himself into his work with a zeal and ardour which 
were beyond praise. His services were dispensed with, as 
were those of the other English officers and men, when it 
was felt that Japan had learnt sufficient to work out her 
own destiny as a naval Power. The labours of these men 
may not have been adequately recognised at the time, but 
their work remains, and is in evidence to-day. Hawes 
received a decoration from the Mikado, and the British 
Government gave him a consular appointment in some 
obscure quarter of the globe, where he died a disappointed 
man, fully sensible of the value of the work he had per- 
formed and inspired, a firm believer in the future of 
Japan as a great naval Power, but disgusted with the 
non-recognition of his labours. 

The Navy of Japan as it is to-day is a triumph of 
organisation. Discussing a short time ago the question 
with an ex-officer of the Mercantile Marine who had, by 
a curious chance, served as a Naval Reserve officer in 
both the English and Japanese Navies, he explained to 
me the wonderful progress of the latter by pointing out 
that it had been, as it were, called instantaneously into 
existence. The Japanese Navy, he observed, had no past 
and no traditions to hamper its development ; its officers 
and administrators had only one desire — to get the best of 
everything in modern naval science from anywhere. There 
was no cult of seamanship, no dead wall of prejudice to _ 
trammel modern naval developments. There was no preju- 
dice at the Japanese Admiralty against anything — save 
stagnation. Progress was the keynote and watchword of 
the Japanese Navy. My friend assured me that it was, as 
regards equipment, organisation, and general efficiency, the 
finest fighting force the world has ever seen. So far as my 
own knowledge of the matter goes, and so far as I am 



128 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

competent to express an opinion on the subject, I fully 
endorse these observations. A visit to a Japanese vessel- 
of-war, however perfunctory the knowledge of the visitor 
may be on matters naval, very soon convinces him of 
the fact that the Japanese naval officers and men are filled 
not only with ardour but enthusiasm for their profession, 
that efficiency and proficiency are the watchwords, and 
that the desire of every one connected with the Navy, 
from the Admiral downwards, is to maintain the personnel 
and materiel of the Fleet in the highest possible condition 
of efficiency. 

If, as some Englishmen imagine is the case, there is 
a tendency on the part of young Japan to be oblivious 
of the fact that the Navy of the country is greatly 
indebted for its present state of efficiency to the zeal 
and efforts of English naval officers in its early days, 
there is no question that the feeling of the officers and 
men of the Japanese Navy to their English comrades is 
of a very hearty nature. The formal alliance with Great 
Britain was highly popular in the Japanese Fleet, and I 
have never heard any officer connected therewith speak 
in any but the highest and most cordial terms of their 
English confreres. 

It is not, I think, necessary for me to refer to the deeds 
of and the work done by the Japanese Navy in the course 
of the war with Russia ; very much the same remarks that 
I have made in regard to the Army apply here. Nothing 
was lost sight of or omitted that could in the slightest 
degree tend to ensure or secure success. Everything 
seems to have been foreseen. Nothing was left to chance. 
The results were precisely what might have been expected, 
and what indeed were expected, by those who had 
an intimate knowledge of the manner in which the 



THE JAPANESE ARMY AND NAVY 129 

Japanese Navy was organised for war. I regard it 
especially in alliance with the English Fleet, as one of 
the greatest safeguards for the peace of the world. I 
trust the alliance between this country and Japan may 
be of a permanent nature. I may remark in respect 
of the Fleet, as I have of the Army, that Japan has 
no unworthy ambitions. Her desire is to conserve what 
she possesses and to render her Island Empire secure 
from invasion or molestation. 

Closely connected with the development of Japan's 
Navy is that of her Mercantile Marine. A few words 
in regard to it may therefore not be out of place here. 
The insular position and the mountainous condition of 
the country, as well as its extent of seaboard, early 
impressed on the makers of new Japan the necessity for 
creating not only a great mercantile fleet but also for de- 
veloping the shipbuilding industry. Both these ambitions 
have been largely realised. At first their consummation 
was attended with many difficulties. The Japanese, as I 
have already remarked in this book, were many centuries 
ago enterprising sailors, but when the country was closed 
voyages of discovery or trade automatically came to an 
end. With the awakening of Japan a change imme- 
diately took place, and steps were taken to create and 
develop the Mercantile Marine. A Japanese gentleman, 
Mr. Iwasaki, in 1872 started a line of steamers, subsidised 
by the Government, the well-known Mitsu Bishi Com- 
pany. Shortly afterwards another company was formed 
to compete against it. This line was also subsidised 
by the Government, but as the rivalry did not prove 
profitable to either the two lines were amalgamated in 
1885 under the title of Nippon Yusen Kaisha. Since then 
a number of other shipping companies have been formed 



130 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

in Japan, and the Nippon Yusen Kaisha has largely 
extended its operations, opening up communication with 
Bombay, England, and the Continent, Melbourne, &c. In 
fact, the Japanese flag is now seen in many parts of the 
world, while the Japanese Mercantile Marine has advanced 
by leaps and bounds, and is still annually increasing. At 
the end of 1904 there were about 240 steamers flying the 
Japanese flag, with a gross tonnage of over 790,000. 
Japan now ranks high among the maritime nations of 
the world, and her position therein, unless I am very 
much mistaken, will still further advance in the years 
to come. 

There are, I know, a great number of worthy people, 
both in this country and Japan, who regard the expendi- 
ture on an Army and Navy as entirely unproductive, and 
look forward to the halcyon days when all such expendi- 
ture shall cease and the taxation now devoted to these 
purposes shall be diverted to more worthy objects. I am 
afraid, as the world is at present constituted, there is no 
prospect of such a, in some respects, desirable consumma- 
tion being effected. Nowadays the most effective means 
a nation can possess in the direction of the maintenance 
and enjoyment of peace is to be welj prepared for war. 
That is a fact of which I am sure the men responsible 
for the government of Japan are firmly convinced ; and 
I believe they are right. I am certain, as I have said 
before, that the world has nothing to fear from the 
armed strength of Japan by land or sea. 



CHAPTER XI 

JAPANESE ART — INTRODUCTORY — LACQUER WARE, 
POTTERY AND PORCELAIN 

JAPANESE art is a subject which invites exhaustive 
treatment. To deal with it adequately in two or three 
chapters of a general work on Japan is obviously 
impossible. Still it is, I think, possible, within the limits 
at my disposal, to give my readers some conception of 
that art to which Japan is so greatly indebted for the 
extraordinary way in which she has impressed the world. 
The art of Japan is in a sense unique, and it may be 
that to some extent the Japanese atmosphere, so to 
speak, is essential in order to fully appreciate it. Mr. 
Chamberlain, in his " Things Japanese," has observed that 
"To show a really fine piece of lacquer to one of the 
uncultivated natives of Europe or America is, as the 
Japanese proverb says, like giving guineas to a cat." 
Much the same remark might, however, be made in 
reference to the art products of any country. Be that 
as it may, the Japanese people are now largely dependent 
on the foreigner for art patronage. It may be that this 
has resulted in art-artisans abandoning their old standard 
and devoting themselves to the manufacture of what- 
ever pays best, prostituting the spirit of art to the 

131 



132 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

promptings of gain, and compelling the native to cater for 
foreign taste rather than to adhere to Japanese canons of 
art. I am afraid that the commercial spirit is fatal to art 
of any kind. The true artist, like the poet, in an ideal 
state of existence would only work under inspiration, but, 
unfortunately, the artist, like the poet, is daily faced by 
that necessity which knows no law and demands the 
subsistence of the body as an essential for work of 
any kind. 

Perhaps some of my readers might desire a definition of 
art. There are, I know, people in this world who can 
never approach the consideration of or deal with any 
subject unless the subject itself and every term in con- 
nection therewith is precisely defined. In reference to 
Japanese art I am inclined to employ the words of Mr. 
Walter Crane in opening, many years ago, the annual 
exhibition of the Arts and Crafts Society. He remarked : 
" The true root and basis of all art lies in the handicrafts. 
If there is no room or chance of recognition for really 
artistic power and feeling in design and craftsmanship — 
if art is not recognised in the humblest object and 
material, and felt to be as valuable, in its own way, as 
the more highly rewarded pictorial skill — the art cannot 
be in a sound condition. And if artists cease to be 
found among the crafts, there is great danger that they 
will vanish from the arts also, and become manufac- 
turers and salesmen instead." 

Japanese art is unquestionably of that kind which 
requires a certain educational process. It does not, for 
instance, at once appeal to that vague entity the " man 
in the street." There is a grotesqueness about some of 
it, a lack of perspective in much of it, which is caviare 
to ci. large number of persons. This much, however, can 



JAPANESE ART 133 

be said about Japanese art — that it is original. It is almost 
altogether the outcome of the artistic instincts of the 
people. Undoubtedly it has been to a large extent in- 
fluenced by Buddhism, and, as we have seen, Buddhism 
is a foreign religion ; but at the same time I think it 
may fairly be asserted that, though the Buddhist religion 
may have influenced and utilised Japanese art, it has never 
killed, or indeed affected to any degree, what I may term 
the individualistic artistic instincts of the nation. Japanese 
art requires to be closely studied. It is something that 
grows upon one, and the closer it is studied the greater its 
influence. To me one of its most pleasing features is what 
I have termed in the Preface its catholicity. It is not, as 
art is in so many European countries, the cult of a few, a 
sort of Eleusynian mystery into which a select number 
of persons have been initiated. It has, on the contrary, 
permeated, and exercised an influence upon, the whole 
nation, and been employed for even the most humble 
purposes. It is for this reason that, as I have previously 
observed, I am of opinion the Japanese may be considered 
and described as the most artistic people in the world. 

I have referred to the grotesqueness and lack of perspec- 
tive incidental to some descriptions of Japanese art. It 
certainly neglects chiaroscuro and linear perspective, and 
it displays an entire lack of form knowledge. The human 
figure and face have apparently never been studied at all. 
The colouring is frequently splendid, while the figures are 
for the most part anatomically incorrect. One would 
think that Japanese artists had never seen their own or 
any other human bodies. A rigid adherence to con- 
ventionality is, in my opinion, a defect of all Japanese 
art. By conventionality I do not, of course, mean what I 
may term the individuality of the art itself, but the fact 



134 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

that Japanese artists have felt themselves largely bound by 
the traditions of their art to treat the human and other 
figures not in accordance with nature, but altogether in 
accordance with the conventions of that art, and to 
entirely ignore perspective. I am quite aware that some 
enthusiastic lovers of things Japanese admire, or affect 
to admire, these defects. They have been described as 
a protest against the too rigid rules exacted in Western 
art. I suggest, however, that art in its highest form 
should seek to be true to nature, and in so far as Japanese 
art fails in this respect it is, I think, defective. At the 
same time I cordially admit that its defects are more 
than compensated by its splendid workmanship, its 
gorgeous colouring, and its striking originality. 

It was only about forty or fifty years ago that Japanese 
art became known to any extent in Europe. Certainly 
the Portuguese missionaries introduced by Francis Xavier 
and the traders in the Dutch factory at Nagasaki were 
in the habit of exporting a few articles to Europe, chiefly 
porcelain ware made to order. I fear both missionaries 
and merchants regarded Japanese art, as we now 
know it, as barbaric, and never in the slightest degree 
realised either its beauties or its originality. Neither 
they nor the many millions of art-lovers in Europe 
dreamt that Japan was a country where art was universal, 
not esoteric — an art with schools, traditions, masters, and 
masterpieces. Probably the Paris Exhibition of 1867, 
to which the Prince of Satsuma sent a collection of 
Japanese artistic treasures, was the occasion when the 
true inwardness of Japanese art burst upon the Western 
world as a whole. It was a veritable revelation. It 
at once aroused enthusiasm and curiosity, and I fear 
cupidity, among European artists and art collectors. 



JAPANESE ART 135 

Europe was awakened to the possibilities of Japan as 
an art nation, and Japan, failing to realise or properly 
appreciate the artistic accumulated wealth it possessed, 
commenced to part with it in a truly reckless manner. 
The depletion of the art treasures of the country com- 
menced about this time, and though that depletion has 
been largely arrested, it is nevertheless still, to some 
extent, going on. 

Japanese art, as it has come under the cognisance of 
a foreigner, may be considered in connection with four 
or five purposes to which it has been employed or adapted. 
First amongst these I place lacquer, next pottery and 
porcelain, then carving in wood and iron, metal-work and 
painting. The lacquer industry has been in existence 
in Japan so long as we have any authoritative history 
of the country. If any credence is to be given to tradition, 
long before the Christian era there was an official whose 
sole duty it was to superintend the production of lacquer 
for the Imperial Court, and specimens over a thousand 
years old, though rare, still exist. The process of lacquer- 
ing is a somewhat intricate one, and varies, of course, 
in accordance with the time and labour spent on the 
article to be lacquered, and the cost of the same. After 
the article has been carefully made from specially selected 
wood — in the case of the choicest specimens of lacquer 
work this is usually a pine-wood of fine grain — it is first 
coated with a preparation composed of clay and varnish, 
which, after being permitted to dry, is smoothed down 
with a whetstone. When this operation has been con- 
cluded, the article proposed to be lacquered is covered 
with some substance, either silk, cloth, or paper. It is 
then given from one to five coats of the foregoing mixture, 
each coat being permitted to dry before the next is 



136 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

applied. After this has been effected, the whetstone 
is again employed with a view of obtaining a perfectly- 
smooth surface when the lacquering proper commences. 
This may be a perfunctory or it may be a very com- 
plicated operation, according to the value of the article, 
layer after layer of the varnish — from one to fifty coats — 
being laid upon the material at intervals. After the final 
coat has been applied, the smoothing process commences. 
The whole of these operations are, however, only the 
preliminaries to the scheme of decoration, which is often 
very elaborate. The dusts of powders used for this 
purpose are of various kinds and of varying cost. When 
the ornamentation which often consists in colouring the 
groundwork with particles of gold dust has been com- 
pleted, sometimes as many as a dozen coatings of trans- 
parent lacquer are imposed upon the same. 

The art of lacquering in Japan dates back at least 
1,200 or 1,300 years, and tradition assigns it a period more 
ancient still. There are, however, few if any articles 
of lacquer ware now in the country, whose origin can 
be traced back so many years. At any rate, there is 
no satisfactory evidence in regard to the antiquity of 
any specimens of lacquer ware dating ,back more than 
seven or eight centuries. In old Japan the manufac- 
turer of lacquer work was intimately associated with the 
domestic life of the upper classes. Griffis tells us that 
nearly every Daimio had his Court lacquerer, and that 
a set of household furniture and toilet utensils was part 
of the dowry of a noble lady. On the birth of a daughter, 
he relates, it was common for the lacquer artist to begin 
the making of a mirror case, a washing bowl, a cabinet, 
a clothes rack, or a chest of drawers, often occupying from 
one to five whole years on a single article. An inro, or 



JAPANESE AKT 137 

pill-box, might require several years for perfection, though 
small enough to go into a fob. By the time the young 
lady was marriageable, her outfit of lacquer was superb. 

The names of many of the great lacquer artists of 
Japan are still venerated. The masterpieces of Hoyami 
Koyetsu who flourished in the sixteenth century, are 
still, though rare, procurable. Japan numbers on her roll 
of fame twenty-eight great lacquer artists. There have, 
of course, been many hundreds, and indeed thousands, 
in the past centuries whose work was superb, but the 
twenty-eight are deemed to be the immortals of this 
particular art. One of these great men, Ogawa Ritsuo, 
is famous for the number and variety of the materials — 
mother-of-pearl, coral, tortoise-shell, &c. &c., he used in 
his work. A profuse richness is its chief characteristic. 
One of his pupils imitated in his work various materials — 
pottery and wood-carving, and bronzes. The last famous 
artist in lacquer, Watanobe Tosu, died about thirty years 
ago. Whether he is destined to have a successor or 
successors remains to be seen. These lacquer artists, 
as I have indicated, worked not for lucre, but for love. 
Attached to some Daimios household, they devoted their 
lives, their energies, their imagination, their artistic in- 
stincts to the devising of splendid work and the making 
of beautiful, ingenious, absolutely artistic and, at the 
same time, entirely useful articles. 

It is impossible within the space at my disposal to deal 
in detail with the large variety of lacquer work produced 
in Japan with the various kinds of lacquer, or with what 
I may term the artistic idiosyncrasies of Japanese lacquer 
work. One can now hardly believe that until the opening up 
of Japan half a century or so ago, few specimens of lacquer 
found their way to Europe, although Japanese porcelain 



138 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

had been largely imported and was highly prized. Even 
at the present time I do not think that the artistic beauties 
of Japanese lacquer work have been appreciated in this 
country to anything like the extent they deserve to be. 
I have heard people remark, for example, that they failed 
to understand the perpetual reproduction of the great 
snow-covered mountain Fusi-Yama in Japanese designs, 
while they could see nothing in these storks, bewildering 
landscapes, and grotesque figures. Perhaps the best ex- 
planation of the constant appearance of Fusi-Yama in 
all Japanese work is that which De Fonblanque gives. 
He says: "If there is one sentiment universal amongst 
all Japanese, it is a deep and earnest reverence for their 
sacred mountain. It is their ideal of the beautiful in 
nature, and they never tire of admiring, glorifying, and 
reproducing it. It is painted, embossed, carved, engraved, 
modelled in all their wares. The mass of the people 
regard it not only as the shrine of their dearest gods, 
but the certain panacea for their worst evils, from im- 
pending bankruptcy or cutaneous diseases to unrequited 
love or ill-luck at play. It is annually visited by thousands 
and thousands of pilgrims." The Japanese artist in con- 
stantly reproducing Fusi-Yama has merely voiced national 
sentiment and feeling. 

The substance applied to wood to produce what is called 
lacquer, is not what is generally known in England as 
varnish. It is really the sap of the rhus vernicifera 
which contains, among other ingredients, about 3 per 
cent, of a gum soluble in water. It has to undergo various 
refining processes before being mixed with the colouring 
matter, while the greatest care is exercised throughout 
with a view of obviating the possibility of dust or any 
other foreign matter finding its way into the mixture. 




VIEW OF FUSI-YAMA FROM A TEA HOUSE 

FROM A PRINT BY HIKOSHIGE 



JAPANESE ART 139 

The fine polish usually seen on lacquer work is not 
actually the result of the composition applied, but is 
produced by incessant polishing. The lacquered articles 
in old Japan were used for various purposes — mirror cases, 
fans, letter-carriers, the inro, which was at one time a 
necessary part of every Japanese gentleman's attire ; it 
was secured to the sash, and utilised to hold medicine 
powders, for perfumes, as a seal-box, &c., seals being at 
one time, as indeed they are to some extent still, in use in 
place of a signature. But the amount of ancient lacquer 
ware now in Japan, or, indeed, of artistic articles made 
solely for use and not merely to sell, is, as I have said, 
small. European collectors have denuded the country ; 
the treasures of the Daimios, which were almost recklessly 
sold when they were disestablished, and to a large extent 
disendowed, have been distributed all over the globe, and 
a large quantity, perhaps the largest quantity, of the 
lacquer work now made in the country is manufactured 
solely for the purpose of being sold as curios either at 
home or abroad. That this fact has largely lowered the 
artistic ideals and debased the artistic taste in Japan 
appears to be the general opinion. Much of the present- 
day work of Japan in lacquer, as in other articles, is 
certainly to my mind artistic and beautiful in the extreme, 
but obviously, men working almost against time to turn 
out "curios," for which there is a persistent demand on 
the part of visitors who are not always by temperament 
or training fitted to appreciate the artistic or the beautiful, 
are unlikely to produce such fine or original work as the 
artisan of old leisurely employed at his craft and pluming 
himself, not on the amount of his earnings or the extent 
of his output, but on the quality and artistic merits of 
his work. 



140 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

Next to lacquer in importance amongst the Japanese 
arts, I think, comes ceramic ware, which has long had a 
great vogue in Europe, and indeed was highly prized here 
many years before the artistic skill of the Japanese in 
lacquer was generally known. That decorative art, as 
expressed in the pottery and porcelain of Japan, has been 
largely influenced by China and Korea seems to be un- 
questionable. The Japanese have nevertheless imparted 
to it a peculiar charm of their own, the outcome of 
originality in ideas, while the art has, through many 
centuries, been fortunate enough to have been fostered and 
encouraged by the great and powerful of the land. As a 
people the Japanese are entirely free from anything that 
savours of ostentation, and this fact is emphasised in their 
art just as it is in their homes. The charm of the ceramic 
ware of Japan, in my opinion, consists in the beauty of 
its colouring rather than in its figuring. This ceramic 
ware, as my readers probably know, differs greatly in 
appearance, quality, and, I may add, in price according to 
the particular part of the country in which it is produced. 
It is not necessary to be an art connoisseur to grasp the 
fact that, say, the famous Satsuma ware is distinct in 
almost every respect from that of Imari, Kaga, Ise, Raku, 
Kyoto, &c. All these different wares have charms 
peculiar to each. It is really marvellous to think that a 
country with such a comparatively small area as Japan 
should have produced so many different kinds of ceramic 
ware, each possessing distinct and pronounced character- 
istics, and having indeed little affinity with each other save 
in regard to the general excellence of the workmanship 
and the artistic completeness of the whole. 

As I have said, both Korea and China have had a 
marked influence on the manufacture of pottery and 



JAPANESE ART 141 

porcelain in Japan. Korean potters appear to have 
settled there prior to the Christian era, and to have 
imparted to the Japanese the first rudiments of knowledge 
in regard to working in clay, but the development of the 
process was greatly due to Chinese influences. During the 
thirteenth century, one Toshiro paid a visit to China, 
where he exhaustively studied everything relating to the 
potter's art. On his return to his own country he intro- 
duced great improvements, both in manufacture and 
decoration, and made, it is believed, for the first time, 
glazed pottery. Soon afterwards household utensils of 
lacquer began to go out of use, being replaced by those 
made of clay, and a great impetus was accordingly given 
to the trade of the potter. Tea, which is believed to have 
been introduced into Japan from China in the year 800 
does not appear to have come into general use till the 
sixteenth century. The " tea ceremonies " known as the 
Cha-no-yu came into vogue about the same time, and 
undoubtedly had an immense influence on the ceramic 
art. The articles used in the " tea ceremonies " included 
an iron kettle resting on a stand ; a table or stand of 
mulberry wood 2 feet high ; two tea-jars containing the 
tea ; a vessel containing fresh water ; a tea-bowl. It is 
not my purpose to describe the many interesting details of 
these " tea ceremonies." Suffice it to observe that they 
gave a great impetus to the manufacture of costly and 
elaborate china. The leaders of society, as we should 
term them, who took part in these ceremonies exercised a 
judicious and enlightened patronage of the ceramic art. 
They encouraged rising talent, and welcomed new develop- 
ments. There can, I think, be no doubt that Japan, in an 
artistic sense, owes much to the frequenters of these " tea 
ceremonies." Tea-jars and tea-bowls especially became, 



142 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

under the patronage and guidance of these men, choice 
works of art, and were bestowed by the great and power- 
ful on their friends, by whom they were greatly cherished 
and handed down as heirlooms. Some of these treasures 
still remain in the country, a large number have been 
purchased by art connoisseurs and taken to various parts 
of the world, while many, of course, have from various 
causes perished. Under the conditions of life which 
obtained in old Japan the ceramic art reached a pitch 
of excellence, not to say glory, which it is never likely to 
attain either in Japan or elsewhere. It was emphatically 
a period of art for art's sake. The patronage, if I may 
use a word perhaps not strictly accurate, of the great 
artists of those days was exercised in such a manner as to 
enable them to employ all their talents, artistic ideals, and 
enthusiasm in the direction of producing masterpieces of 
their craft. 

The secrets of porcelain manufacture are believed to 
have been brought to Japan from China about the begin- 
ning of the sixteenth century. In the year 15 13, Gorodayu, 
Shonsui, of Ise, returned from China and settled in Arita, 
in the province of Hizen, which at once became and still 
remains the headquarters of the famous Imari ware. The 
porcelain produced here is chiefly, but not altogether, the 
blue and white combination, but Arita also makes porce- 
lain ware decorated in various colours and exceedingly 
ornate in appearance. It is, however, stated that this 
ornate Imari ware was first made for exportation to China 
to supply the Portuguese market at Macao, and that it 
was afterwards fostered by the Dutch at Nagasaki, 
whose exportations of the ware to Europe were on a 
considerable scale. This peculiar style of decoration is 
believed to have been due to the demands of the Dutch, 



JAPANESE ART 143 

whose patrons in Europe would have none other. One 
remark I may make in this connection, viz., that those 
enormous vases and other similar articles of Japanese 
ware which have long been so greatly prized in Europe, 
and many of which are magnificent specimens of decora- 
tive art, are not, in one sense, characteristically Japanese. 
The Japanese has always, if I may so express it, used art 
as the handmaiden of utilitarianism. Every article in- 
tended for the Japanese home had to be not merely a 
thing of beauty but a thing for use. It never entered the 
minds of the Japanese to hang beautiful specimens of their 
porcelain ware on their walls, or what did duty for walls, 
to collect dust. They used vases certainly of a moderate 
size to hold flowers, tea-pots and tea-cups for the purpose 
of making and drinking tea, water-bottles and various 
other articles for domestic use ; everything in fact was, as 
I have said, designed not only from an artistic but a 
utilitarian standpoint, and hence it is, I think, that art, 
as I have already remarked, has permeated the whole 
people. Even in the poorest house in Japan it is possible 
to see, in the ordinary articles in domestic use, some 
attempt at art, and, I may add, some appreciation of it on 
the part of the users of those articles. In my opinion 
when art is not applied to articles of general utility but is 
confined to articles not intended for use, art becomes, as is 
largely the case in this country, either the cult of a class 
or the affectation of a class, and its beauties and inward 
meaning cease to have any effect upon, just because they 
are not understood by, the great mass of the people. 

Satsuma ware is probably the most widely known, and 
the most esteemed among foreigners, of Japanese porce- 
lain. Its soft, cream-like colour is now known in every 
part of the world, while the delicate colour decorations 



144 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

imposed upon the cream-like background, certainly give a 
most effective appearance. I question however whether, 
from a purely artistic standpoint, Satsuma is worthy of 
being compared with many of the other porcelains in 
Japan. Much of it as seen in Europe was specially made 
for Europe, and having been so is, I suggest, not in the 
true sense artistic. As a matter of fact Satsuma ware was 
introduced from Korea, and was made in the first instance 
solely for the use of the Prince of Satsuma and his friends. 
The kilns were originally built on Korean models, and the 
potters in Satsuma remained a class apart, not being 
allowed to marry with the outside world. 

Kaga ware is well known to all art connoisseurs. This 
porcelain is rare. The masters of the art of Kaga ware, 
with its exquisite colouring and elaborate ornamentation 
in gold and silver, have left no successors, while their 
output was small. The ware is of course still made, and as 
the clay of the district is of a dark red colour, the ware 
has a uniform tint. 

Bizen ware reached the apotheosis of its perfection just 
before the Revolution. It is made in the province of 
Bizen. The better kind is made of a white or light bluish 
clay, and well baked in order to receive the red-brown 
colour, whereas the commoner kind is of a red clay. 

The various Kyoto wares are remarkable for their quaint 
forms, and some of them are highly prized. 

It would, of course, be impossible for me to attempt in 
detail a description of the other very numerous ceramic 
wares of Japan. Undoubtedly, as I have said, Satsuma is 
the most popular with Europeans, but it is not, and I do 
not think it deserves to be, the most highly prized by 
art connoisseurs. The ceramic wares of Japan may be 
classified under three headings : (i) Pottery, ornamented 



JAPANESE ART 145 

by scoring and glazing ; (2) A cream-coloured faience with 
a glaze often crackled and delicately painted ; (3) Hard 
porcelain. Under the first of these classifications may be 
included Bizen, Seto, Raku, and some other wares. Under 
the second I place Satsuma and some less important 
similar products. Among the porcelains the most famous 
are those of Kutania, Hizen, and Kyoto. In regard to 
decorations, the Japanese have utilised the seven gods of 
good fortune, many landscapes, a few of the domestic 
animals — the dragon, phoenix, an animal with the body 
and hoofs of a deer, the tail of a bull, and with a horn on 
its forehead, a monster lion, and the sacred tortoise. Trees, 
plants, grasses, and flowers of various kinds, and some of 
the badges in Japanese heraldry are also largely made use 
of. However grotesque some of these objects may be, or 
however grotesque the representations of animals and even 
landscapes may be, no one who has closely studied it can 
deny the fact that the effect of Japanese decorative art as 
applied to the ceramic ware of the country is, on the 
whole, magnificent. The more one studies it the more 
impressed one is with its marvellous beauty and the 
originality which has been brought to bear upon it. I 
defy any man or woman, who possesses the artistic sensi- 
bilities, even in a latent degree, to visit a gallery containing 
the masterpieces of Japanese ceramic art, closely study 
them in all their details, and minutely examine the atten- 
tion which the artist has given to even the smallest of 
those details without being impressed by its power. It is, 
I consider, a liberal education to any person who has the 
slightest prepossession for art to wander through such a 
gallery and admire the masterpieces of these wonderful 
art-workers of Japan. 

The demand for the various art products of Japan in 

L 



146 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

both Europe and America has had its perhaps inevitable 
result in not only the manufacture of articles simply and 
solely for the foreign market, but in the what I may term 
faking of modern to represent ancient art productions. 
" Old " Satsuma, for example, is a case in point. The 
genuine old Satsuma ware, by constant use, obtained, like 
meerschaum, a delightful tint. Modern Satsuma is com- 
paratively white, and so, in order to pander to the taste 
of the European collector of the ancient article, the 
modern is stained to the required shade. The article 
itself is genuine, and indeed beautiful, but this " faking " 
of it to meet European and American tastes is one of the 
results, I fear, of Western influences. What the precise 
effect of European influences may be on the old porcelain 
art of Japan it is impossible to say. So far as I am con- 
cerned, I have no hesitation in expressing my own opinion 
that it will not be a healthy influence. Art for art's sake 
is, I admit, difficult when the plutocrats of the West, with 
a craze or a fad for Eastern art, are pouring out their 
wealth in order to obtain specimens thereof Demand 
usually induces supply, and the Japanese artisan of 
to-day would be more than human did he not respond 
to the demand of the West for " Old Satsuma " and 
other specimens of the artistic treasures in pottery and 
porcelain of Japan. The spirit of commercialism is, as 
I have said before, fatal to art. If the artist is forced to 
work quickly and cheaply he quite evidently cannot bring 
his individuality into play. He must transform his studio 
into a workshop, and ponder only, or chiefly, upon the 
possibility of his output. I have been much struck in 
this connection with the remarks of a writer in regard to 
orders for art work sent from New York to Japan. " I 
can remember," he said, "one of our great New York 




KUTANI EARTHENWARE, DECORATED WITH POLYCHROME ENAMELS 

EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 
















INCENSE-BURNER 

AWATA FAYENCE. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 



JAPANESE ART 147 

dealers marking on his samples the colours that pleased 
most of his buyers, who themselves were to place the 
goods. All other colours or patterns were tabooed in 
his instructions to the makers in Japan. This was the 
rude mechanism of the change, the coming down to the 
worst public taste, which must be that of the greatest 
number at any time." 

As regards the modern porcelain of Japan I need say 
but little. Originality is apparently dead, and the makers 
of to-day are content to copy the past. No doubt the 
purely mechanical processes of manufacture have been 
greatly improved, and much, if not most, of the modern 
ceramic ware of Japan is extremely beautiful. At the 
same time some of it, especially that which is made 
solely for the foreign market, is to my mind neither 
artistic nor beautiful. It is decorated, if I may use such 
a term, in most of the colours of the rainbow, and 
rendered more gaudy still by a plethora of very poor 
gilding. 

There is in Japan a certain school of progressive ideas 
in reference to the art of the country. This school is of 
opinion that Japanese art should not, so to speak, remain 
stereotyped, but that it should assimilate and adapt and 
apply all that is good and beautiful in Western art. The 
objects that this school has in view are no doubt laudable, 
but I confess I hope with all my heart that those objects 
will fail of accomplishment. There has been already far 
too much Europeanising of Japanese art, and the result, so 
far as I have been able to judge, is not encouraging in 
respect of any further advance or development in that 
direction. Japanese art, and especially the ceramic art, 
possesses, as I have before said, an individuality which 
can only be spoiled, even if it be not destroyed, by adding 



148 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

on to or mixing up with it the totally distinct art and art 
methods of Western civilisation. Were this done it would 
become a bastard or a mongrel art, and, as history 
affords abundant evidence, would in due course lapse 
into a condition of utter decadence. 

Quite a volume might be written on the subject of 
marks on Japanese pottery and porcelain. These have 
long interested and frequently misled the collector. 
They are of various kinds. Sometimes there is a mark 
signifying the reign or part of the reign of an emperor, 
or the name of a place at which the article was made, 
or, more frequently still, the name of the particular potter 
whose handicraft it was. Sometimes Chinese dates are 
found impressed on the article without any regard to 
chronological correctness. Indeed, Chinese dates are to 
be found on Japanese porcelain indicating a period long 
anterior to that in which the manufacture of porcelain was 
known in Japan. These spurious dates have proved pit- 
falls for collectors. The mark is sometimes impressed 
with a seal or painted ; occasionally it is merely scratched. 
The investigation of these marks is a recondite study 
assuredly full of interest, but, as I have said, prolific in 
pitfalls for the unwary or the too-credulous. 



CHAPTER XII 

JAPANESE ART {continued) — SCULPTURE — METAL 
WORK — PAINTING 

PROBABLY of all the Japanese arts there is none 
more interesting or instructive than that of sculpture 
in wood and ivory. The sculpture of Japan undoubtedly 
had its origin in the service of the Buddhist religion. 
That religion, as I have attempted to show, has always 
utilised art in the decoration of its temples and shrines as 
well as in the perpetuation of the image of Buddha him- 
self At the beginning of the seventeenth century an 
edict was promulgated directing that every house should 
contain a representation of Buddha, and, as the result of 
this, the sculpture trade received a considerable impetus. 
Tobacco was introduced into the country in the same 
century, and the smoking thereof soon came greatly into 
vogue among the Japanese people. Tobacco necessitated 
a pouch or bag to contain the same, and this in turn 
induced or produced the manufacture of something 
wherewith to attach the bag to the girdle. Hence the 
evolution of the netsuke, now as famous in Europe as 
in Japan. The carving of netsukes developed into a very 
high art ; indeed, there is perhaps no branch of Japanese 
art which has aroused more enthusiasm among foreign 

149 



150 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

collectors and connoisseurs. Quite recently I attended 
a sale of netsukes in London at which the bidding was 
both fast and furious, while the prices realised were 
enormous. The netsuke, strictly speaking, was the 
toggle attached by a cord to the tobacco pouch, inro, 
or pipe of the Japanese man, with the object of pre- 
venting the article slipping through the girdle or sash, 
but the word has been more loosely employed by 
foreigners until, in popular parlance, it has come to 
embrace all small carvings. Netsukes were nearly 
always representations of the human figure, and various 
reasons have been advanced to account for this fact. I 
need not consider those reasons in these pages, as they, 
as well as the arguments by which they are attempted to 
be supported, are almost entirely speculative. The dis- 
tinguishing characteristic of the true netsuke is two holes 
admitting of a string being run through them. These 
holes were often concealed behind the limbs of the 
figure. The material of which netsukes were made 
varied, and consisted of ivory, wood horns, fish-bones, 
and stones of various kinds. Those made of wood are 
undoubtedly the most ancient, ivory being of compara- 
tively recent importation into Japan. Nevertheless, the 
netsukes made of ivory now command the highest price. 
The names of many of the great netsuke-makers are 
still famous, and much of their work is certainly artistic 
and beautiful to a degree. I am afraid that in the col- 
lecting of netsukes many European lovers of Japanese 
art have burnt their fingers. The genuine old artistic 
productions are now extremely rare, but a brisk trade 
has sprung up in reproductions which are skilfully 
coloured to give them the appearance of age. The 
netsuke, I must reiterate, was an almost indispensable 



JAPANESE ART 151 

adjunct to the costume of every Japanese man, and it 
was, accordingly, made for use and not for ornament 
alone. Of late years wood and ivory sculpture in Japan 
has largely degenerated and deteriorated owing to the 
output of articles not of utility, but made for the foreign 
market — " curios," in fact 

No one who has visited Japan can have failed of being 
impressed by those gigantic statues of Buddha which have 
been erected in different parts of the country. The largest 
and best known is the Dai Butsu, at Kamakura, a few 
miles from Yokohama. The height of this great statue is 
nearly 50 feet, in circumference it is 97 feet. The length 
of the face is 8 feet 5 inches, the width of mouth 3 feet 
2 inches, and it has been asserted — though I do not 
guarantee the accuracy of the calculation — that there are 
830 curls upon the head, each curl 9 inches long. The 
statue is composed of layers of bronze brazed together. 
It is hollow, and persons can ascend by a ladder into 
the interior. The Dai Butsu at Nara is taller than the 
one at Kamakura. It is dissimilar to most of the others 
in the country in having a black face of a somewhat 
African type. This image is stated to have been erected 
in the year 750 A.D., and the head has, I believe, been 
replaced several times. In the Kamakura Dai Butsu 
both hands rest upon the knees, while in the one at Nara 
the right arm is extended upward with the palm of the 
hand placed to the front. The statue at Nara is made of 
bronze which is stated to be composed of gold 500, 
mercury 1,950, tin 16,827, and copper 986,080 lbs., the total 
weight of the statue being about 480 tons. Nearly all the 
Dai Butsus in the country are of ancient workmanship. 
There is a modern one constructed of wood erected in the 
year 1800 at Kyoto, 60 feet high. As a work of art it 



152 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

has, however, no pretensions, which rest entirely upon 
its size. 

Criticisms in regard to the artistic merits of these 
immense images have been numerous and by no means 
unanimous. To my mind they are superb specimens of 
the work of the old metallurgists of Japan, and they are, 
moreover, deeply interesting as indicative of the ideas of 
their designers in regard to the expression of placid repose 
of Nirvana. Mr. Basil Chamberlain has appositely re- 
marked in reference to the great statue at Kamakura : 
" No other gives such an impression of majesty or so truly 
symbolises the central idea of Buddhism, the intellectual 
calm which comes of perfected knowledge and the subjuga- 
tion of all passion." And Lafcadio Hearn, that learned 
authority on everything Japanese, who has brought into 
all his writings a poetical feeling which breathes the very 
spirit of old Japan, has observed in regard to the same 
statue : " The gentleness, the dreamy passionlessness of 
those features — the immense repose of the whole figure — ■ 
are full of beauty and charm. And, contrary to all 
expectations, the nearer you approach the giant Buddha 
the greater the charm becomes. You look up into the 
solemnly beautiful face — into the half-clpsed eyes, that 
seem to watch you through their eyelids of bronze as 
gently as those of a child ; and you feel that the image 
typifies all that is tender and solemn in the soul of the 
East. Yet you feel also that only Japanese thought could 
have created it. Its beauty, its dignity, its perfect repose, 
reflect the higher life of the race that imagined it, and, 
though inspired doubtless by some Indian model, as the 
treatment of his hair and various symbolic marks reveal, 
the art is Japanese. 

"So mighty and beautiful is the work that you will for 



JAPANESE ART 153 

some time fail to notice the magnificent lotus plants of 
bronze, fully 15 feet high, planted before the figure on 
another side of the great tripod in which incense rods are 
burning." 

Kaemfer, writing in the seventeenth century, remarked 
of the Japanese : " As to all sorts of handicraft, they are 
wanting neither proper materials nor industry and applica- 
tion, and so far is it that they should have any occasion to 
send for masters abroad, that they rather exceed all other 
nations in ingenuity and neatness of workmanship, par- 
ticularly in brass, gold, silver, and copper." In metal work 
the Japanese have certainly cultivated art to a high degree. 
Much of that metal work was, of course, employed in con- 
nection with articles which modern conditions of life in 
Japan have rendered absolutely or almost entirely obsolete. 
The bronze workers of Japan were and indeed are still 
famous. Their work as displayed in braziers, incense- 
holders, flower-vases, lanterns, and various other articles 
evinces great skill, while the effects often produced by the 
artists in the inlaying and overlaying of metals with a view 
of producing a variegated picture has long been the wonder 
and admiration of the Western world. It is almost safe to 
assert that the finest specimens of work of this kind can 
never be reproduced. In casting, too, there was no lack of 
skill in old Japan. The big bell at Kyoto, which is 
14 feet high by over 9 feet in diameter, is a sufficient 
object-lesson as to the proficiency attained in casting in 
bygone days. Much of the bronze work of Japan, especially 
in birds and insects, is to me incomparable. The modern 
bronze work of the country, though certainly beautiful, 
does not in any respect or any degree approach that of the 
masters of two or three hundred years ago. In the manipu- 
lation of metals and amalgams these men have reached a 



154 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

higher standard of perfection than had previously or has 
since been attained. The bronze work of Japan is not, in 
my opinion, as generally appreciated as it deserves to be. 
There is, I think, nothing of the same kind in the world to 
be compared with it when it was at its best. Like much 
of the other art of Japan modern conditions are, as I have 
said, not conducive either to its progress or development. 
Still, there is no lack of skill in this particular branch of 
art in Japan at the present time, and I have seen some 
very admirable, not to say magnificent, specimens of 
modern bronze work. 

Armour is now nearly as effete in Japan as in this 
country, and yet in the decoration of armour the Japanese 
artist in metal was in the past not only skilful but 
beautiful. Fine specimens of armour are now extremely 
rare. That particular kind of work has, of course, gone 
never to return. Next in importance to armour came the 
sword. Some of us can remember when the two-sworded 
men of Japan were still actualities, not, as they have now 
become, historical entities, the terror of the foreign com- 
munity there. The sword was an important and, indeed, 
an essential weapon in the conditions of society that 
obtained in old Japan, not only for self-defence but for 
offensive purposes, either in respect of family feuds or 
individual quarrels, which were almost invariably settled 
by the arbitrament of the sword. That weapon was also 
used for those suicides known as hara-kiri, the outcome 
of wounded honour or self-respect, which were such 
prominent features in the Japanese life of the past. Some 
Western writers have attempted to poke a mild kind of 
fun at this proneness of the Japanese for the "happy 
despatch" on what seemed to the writers very flimsy 
or trivial grounds. To me, on the contrary, the practice 




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JAPANESE ART 155 

of hara-kiri, indefensible as it may be in some respects, 
indicates the existence of a high code of honour, the 
slightest infringement of which rendered life intolerable. 
The sword then had innumerable functions, and, like 
almost every article of utility in Japan, it became the 
subject of elaborate ornamentation. The blade itself was 
brought to a high state of perfection, and as regards the 
tempering of the steel has been the admiration of cutlers 
in every part of the globe. Indeed the sword-makers of 
Japan are famous from the tenth century downwards. 
Many of the sword-blades had mottoes inscribed on them, 
and most had designs ornate and often elaborate. The 
accessories of the blade and the ornamentation thereof 
lent full scope for that artistic adornment which has for 
ages past, as I have more than once remarked, been 
characteristic of almost every article used in Japan. The 
wearing of the sword was confined to persons of a certain 
rank, and different classes wore different kinds of swords. 
About the sixteenth century the custom of wearing two 
swords, one large, the other about the size of a dirk, came 
into fashion. The two-handed sword was essentially a 
war sword. The colour of the scabbard was almost in- 
variably black with a tinge of red or green, and it was in 
most instances beautifully lacquered. The possessor of a 
sword gave full vent to his tastes in regard to the size 
and decoration of his weapon. According to Griffis : 
" Daimios often spent extravagant sums upon a single 
sword and small fortunes upon a collection. A Samurai, 
however poor, would have a blade of sure temper and rich 
mountings, deeming it honourable to suffer for food that he 
might have a worthy emblem of his rank." On January i, 
1877, the wearing of swords was abolished by an Imperial 
decree, and foreigners visiting or resident in Japan in that 



156 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

and the following years were able to pick up magnificent 
swords for a few dollars each. 

I have not space to describe in detail the many- 
accessories which went to form the complete sword for the 
strong man armed in old Japan, or the elaborate and 
artistic ornamentation of every detail. In many of the 
small pieces of metal work which adorned the swords gold, 
silver, platina, copper, iron, steel, zinc, besides numerous 
alloys were used. The abolition of sword-wearing gave a 
death-blow to the industry in connection with the making 
of swords except in so far as it has been continued for the 
purpose of turning them out for the European market. 
But during the many centuries the art of metal work, as 
exemplified in sword manufacture and the ornamentation 
of the sword and the various accessories of it, existed in 
Japan it reached a magnificent height of perfection. 
Dealing only with one period of it a French writer has 
remarked : " What a galaxy of masters illuminated the close 
of the eighteenth century! What a multitude of names 
and works would have to be cited in any attempt to write 
a monograph upon sword furniture! The humblest artisan, 
in this universal outburst of art, is superior in his mastery 
of metal to any one we could name in Europe. How many 
artists worthy of a place in the rank are only known to us 
by a single piece, but which is quite sufficient to evidence 
their power! From 1790 to 1840 art was at fever heat, 
the creative faculty produced marvels." 

Besides the making and ornamentation of swords the 
metal workers in Japan attained great skill in the design 
and finish of many other articles which were in constant 
use by the people — pipes, cases to hold the Indian ink 
which formed the writing material, the clasps and buttons 
of tobacco pouches, besides vases, &c. In reference to the 



JAPANESE ART 157 

making of alloys these metal workers showed considerable 
ingenuity, the alloys used, amalgams of gold, silver, 
copper, and other metals in deft proportions, resulting in 
magnificent effects as regards ornamentation and per- 
manency. Japan has undoubtedly been greatly aided in 
the height to which the art of the country of various kinds 
has attained by the plentifulness of minerals therein. 
Gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, tin, and many other minerals 
exist. Strange to say, gold at one time was considered no 
more valuable than silver — a fact which may account for 
the lavish manner in which it was used for decorative 
purposes in art of all descriptions. 

I fear that an inevitable result of Western influences and 
the great, indeed drastic, changes which have been effected 
thereby in the ideas, manners, and customs of the Japanese 
people has been the decay, if not the destruction, of the 
art connected with metal work. Sword manufacture and 
everything relating thereto is, of course, gone; other metal 
industries are following suit. The result, as I have said, 
was inevitable, but it is none the less deplorable. Although 
it requires an expert to deal with and describe in all its 
infinite detail the metal v^^ork of Japan, it does not need 
an expert's knowledge to profoundly admire it and be lost 
in admiration at the skill displayed and the pains taken in 
respect of every part of it. The workers in this, as indeed 
in all the other art industries of Japan in the past, were 
quite evidently not men in a hurry or much exercised 
concerning their output, and scamping their work in order 
to establish a record. Their hearts must have been in 
everything they undertook, and their sole aim, whatever 
they did, to put into their work all their skill and know- 
ledge and love of the beautiful. They, in fact, worked not 
for pelf but for sheer love of art, and so long as the work 



158 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

of these artists of various kinds endures the world will 
assuredly never cease to admire it. 

Painting has, in Japan, long been greatly cultivated, and 
in some respects highly developed. There are various 
recognised schools of painting, but I shall not weary my 
readers with any attempt, necessarily imperfect as it would 
be, to describe them in detail. China and the Buddhist 
religion have profoundly influenced painting as the other 
arts of Japan. Indeed, the early painters of Japan devoted 
themselves almost entirely to religious subjects. Most of 
their work was executed on the walls, ceilings, and sliding 
screens of the Buddhist temples, but some of it still exists 
in kakemonos, or wall pictures, and makimonos, or scroll 
pictures. In the ninth century painting, as well as the arts 
of architecture and carving, flourished exceedingly. Kyoto 
appears to have been the great artistic centre. The 
construction of temples throughout the country proceeded 
apace, and it is related that no less than 13,000 images 
were carved and painted during the reign of one emperor. 
Kyoto was, in fact, the centre of religious art. We are 
told that the entire city was in a constant artistic ferment, 
that whole streets were converted into studios and work- 
shops, and that the population of idols ■ and images was 
as numerous as the human habitation. Nearly all the 
temples then constructed and adorned have vanished, but 
that at Shiba still remains to convey to us some idea of 
the artistic glories of this period of intense religious belief, 
which gave expression to its fervour and its faith in 
architecture, carving, and painting. About the thirteenth 
century flower and still-life painting came into vogue. 
Almost simultaneously religious fervour, as expressed in 
art, began to grow cold. The artist became the hanger-on 
of the Daimio, who was too often employed in burning 



JAPANESE ART 159 

temples and destroying their artistic treasures. The 
painter then painted as his fancy led him, and if he treated 
of religious subjects did not invariably do so in a reverential 
spirit. From time to time new schools of painting arose, 
culminating, in the eighteenth century, in the Shijo school, 
which made a feature of painting animals, birds, fishes, 
flowers, Sic, from nature, instead of adhering to the 
conventional style which had previously prevailed. The 
colouring of some of the work of this school is superb and 
is greatly in request among art collectors. 

Of late years painting in Japan seems, to some extent, 
to have come under Western influences. There is, indeed^ 
a progressive party in painting which not only does not 
resist these Western influences but actually advocates the 
utilisation of Western materials and methods in painting 
and the discarding of all that had made Japanese painting 
essentially what it is. I confess to a hope that this 
progressive school will not make quite so much progress 
as its disciples desire. To introduce European pigments, 
canvas, brushes, &c., and discard the materials formerly in 
use, to get rid of the Japanese method of treating subjects, 
whether landscapes, country scenes, the life of the people, 
representations of animals, and so on, and replace that 
method by imitations of European schools of painting, 
must simply involve the destruction of all that is essentially 
and characteristically Japanese and the replacing of it by 
something that is not Japanese or indeed Oriental. The 
essence of art is originality. I admit that art may come 
under foreign influences and be improved, just as it may 
be degraded, by them. If the influences of foreign art are 
to be advantageous that art must, I suggest, be in some 
measure akin to the style of the art which is affected by it. 
For example, the influence in the past of China or Korea 



160 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

upon an analogous style of art in Japan. But for Japanese 
painters to remodel their peculiar style upon that of 
Europe must prove as fatal to Japanese painting as an art 
as any similar endeavour of European painters to remodel 
their style upon that of Japan would be fatal to the 
distinctive art of Europe. I make this statement with 
full knowledge of the fact that some art critics in this 
country declare that Mr. Whistler and other artists have 
been largely affected or influenced in their style by a study 
of Japanese art in painting and its methods. 

I have referred to kakemonos, those wall pictures which 
are such a pleasing feature of the simple decoration of 
Japanese houses. Many of these are superb specimens of 
art, and the same remark may be made in reference to the 
makimonos, or scroll pictures. It may be that not every 
Western eye can appreciate these Japanese paintings fully 
at a first glance, but they certainly grow upon one, and I 
hope the time is far distant when kakemonos will be 
replaced in Japanese homes by those mural decorations, if 
I may so term them, to be seen in so many English 
houses, which are a positive eyesore to any person with 
even the faintest conception of art. The work of the old 
painters of Japan, as it appears on, kakemonos and 
makimonos, is now rare. Much of it, as is the case with 
the other art treasures of the country, has gone abroad. 
I am, however, of opinion that painting has not deteriorated 
to anything like the same extent as some of the other 
Japanese arts. The subjects depicted by the artists have 
during the centuries from time to time changed, but the 
technique has altered but little. It does not, I know, 
appeal to everybody, but it is the kind of art, I reiterate, 
that grows upon one. No person who has interested 
himself in painting in modern Japan, especially on kake- 




Hi 




KAKEMONO ON PAPER 

ATTRIBUTED TO MATAHEI 



KAKEMONO ON PAPER 

ATTRIBUTED TO SHIMMAN, UKIVO SCHOOL. 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 



JAPANESE ART 161 

monos, can, I think, have failed to be impressed by the 
exquisite and beautiful work which the Japanese artists 
in colour to-day produce. 

Silk and satin embroidery as an industry and an art at 
one time attained considerable importance in Japan, but 
of recent years has greatly declined. The craze among 
the upper classes for European dress has, of course, 
seriously affected the demand for elaborately embroidered 
silk and satin garments, and is bound to affect it to an 
even greater extent in the future as the custom of wearing 
European garb spreads among the people. No one with 
any artistic sensibilities can help regretting the fact that 
Japan is gradually but surely discarding the distinctive 
costume of her people. That costume was in every 
respect appropriate to their physique and facial character- 
istics. The same certainly cannot be said of European 
attire. However, it is now, I suppose, hopeless to arrest 
the movement in this direction, and in a comparatively 
few years, no doubt, the ancient and historic dress of the 
Japanese people will be as obsolete as the silks, satins, 
ruffles, &c., of our forefathers. 

And what remark shall I make of Japanese curios, the 
trade in which has assumed such very large dimensions ? 
Have they no claim, some of my readers may ask, to be 
included in a chapter on art? There is no doubt that 
many purchasers of them would be shocked were they to 
be told that there was nothing artistic in many, if not 
most, of these articles, that they were made simply and 
solely for the European market, and that the manufacture 
of curios for this purpose was now just as much a trade as 
is the making of screws in Birmingham. I am quite 
prepared to admit that some of the articles included in the 
generic term " curios," which can now be purchased in every 

M 



162 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

large town in Great Britain, are pretty and effective, but as 
regards many of them there is certainly nothing artistic or 
indeed particularly or peculiarly Japanese. This making 
of curios for the foreign market has, as I have said, 
assumed considerable dimensions in Japan of recent years, 
and in connection therewith the Japanese has certainly 
assimilated many Western ideas in reference to pushing 
his wares. As an example in point of this I will quote 
here an anecdote told me by a friend who had a consider- 
able knowledge of Japan in the 'seventies. During one 
of his journeyings inland, when staying at a Japanese 
tea-house, he was initiated into the use of Japanese 
tooth-powder, which is in pretty general use among the 
lower classes. On leaving Japan he purchased and 
brought to England a considerable quantity of this tooth- 
powder, and on settling down in London he discovered a 
Japanese shop where it was on sale. For some seventeen 
or eighteen years he purchased the tooth-powder at the 
shop, sold in the little boxes in which it was vended in 
Japan, not only using it himself but introducing it to a 
large number of his acquaintances. One day last year, 
on going into the shop referred to to make a further 
purchase, he was informed that they- were run out of 
tooth-powder and did not quite know if they would have 
any more. My friend returned a month or two later to 
the same shop on the same errand bent, and asked if they 
had received a fresh supply. He was told that a further 
supply had come to hand of very much the same descrip- 
tion, but at double the price. He purchased a box, the 
outside of which bore the following inscription in English : 
" Japanese Sanitary Dentifrice ; Superior Quality. Apply 
the powder to the teeth by means of a brush, using 
moderate friction over the whole surface." On opening 



JAPANESE ART 163 

the box my friend found the powder was perfumed — 
perfumed for the European market ! Now tooth-powder 
is, of course, not a curio, nor is the expression " moderate 
friction over the whole surface," I may remark, character- 
istically Japanese. The little anecdote is, I think, typical 
of the change that has come over and is still actively in 
progress in Japan — a change which, however inevitable, 
and beneficial though in many respects I believe it to be, 
is most assuredly not beneficial to the interests of art of 
any kind. 

The fact of the matter is that the hurry-scurry of 
modern civilisation is not conducive to artistic work of 
any description. The man in a hurry is unlikely to 
accomplish anything of permanent value. Working 
against time is utterly subversive of the realisation of 
artistic ideals. The past, whether in the West or the 
East, when railways, telegraphs, telephones, newspapers, 
and all the adjuncts of modern progress were unknown, 
was the period when men did good and enduring work. 
They could then concentrate their minds upon their art 
free from those hundred-and-one discomposing and dis- 
concerting influences which are the concomitants of 
modern civilisation. The true artist thinks only of his 
art ; for him it is not merely a predominant, but his sole 
interest. He brings to it all his mind, his ideas and ideals, 
his energy, enthusiasm, pertinacity ; in it is concentrated 
all his ambition. Extraneous matters can only distract 
his mind from his art, and accordingly are to be abjured. 
I fear this exclusiveness, this aloofness, is rare nowadays in 
the West ; it is perhaps less rare in the East, but it is be- 
coming rarer there as Western influences, Western ideas, 
and Western modes of life and method of regarding life 
make progress. The poet, the painter, the sculptor, the 



164 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

novelist, the dramatist, if their work is to be other than 
ephemeral, need an atmosphere of repose and quietude 
wherein the mind can work and fashion those ideas which 
are to be given material expression free from all distracting 
and disturbing influences. Where can the aspiring artist, 
under modern conditions of life, find such a haven of rest ? 
And even if he find it I fear he too often has no desire to 
cast anchor there. The distractions of life are frequently 
alluring, and the embryonic artists of to-day assure us 
that they must, in modern jargon, keep " in touch " with 
modern thought with a view of, in modern slang, being 
" up-to-date." Ideas such as these — and they seem to me 
to be not only largely prevalent but almost universal — are 
in my opinion fatal, not only to the development but to 
the very existence of art. We see in this country the 
effect upon every department thereof Poetry, painting, 
sculpture, literature, the drama, are by almost general 
consent in a state of utter decadence. The great poet or 
painter, the great artist in words, on canvas, in marble, or 
in wood — where is he ? Are there any signs or portents of 
his advent ? None. Modern conditions of life have killed 
the artist, and replaced him by artistic mediocrities or 
mechanicians who labour not for love but for lucre, and 
are more concerned about the amount of their output 
than the quality thereof And as of England and Europe 
so I fear is it, and will it be to a greater extent, in the near 
future in Japan. The artist in lacquer, porcelain, metal, 
painting, embroidery, cannot exist under the conditions of 
modern progress. He may still produce good and beautiful 
work, but it will be no longer artistic in the higher sense 
of that word, just because those ideas and ideals which 
make the artist and connote art cannot exist in their 
fulness and purity amidst the hurry and bustle and 



JAPANESE ART 165 

turmoil and desire for wealth which are the essential 
characteristics of the civilisation of Europe and America 
to-day — a civilisation which Japan has imported, and to 
a large degree assimilated, and which she must accept 
with its defects as well as its advantages. We may, and 
must, regret the effect of this civilisation upon the art of 
old Japan, but there is no good shutting one's eyes to 
obvious facts or affecting to believe that in due course we 
shall witness a renaissance in Japan, a new birth of all 
that is great and grand and magnificent in her past 
history. 

There has for some years been a movement to prevent, 
as far as possible, the passing out of Japan of its art 
treasures. The Government has diligently catalogued all 
that remain in the temples and public buildings to obviate 
their being sold, and museums have been built for the 
purpose of collecting and exhibiting all that is best and 
representative of Japanese art. There has also been a 
movement among the noblemen and the upper classes in 
the direction of forming private collections. It was time 
that steps such as these should be taken. It is a thousand 
pities they were not taken earlier. The drain of Japan's 
art treasures went on unchecked year after year, and it is 
probable that the private and public collections of Europe 
and America contain more Japanese art treasures than are 
now to be found in Japan itself I am aware that in these 
collections are also to be found no little of the spurious, 
and many articles with no claim to be considered artistic 
in any sense of the word, but at the same time there is no 
doubt that, as I have said, for years, there was a constant 
export of artistic wealth from Japan. The Revolution of 
1868, with its consequent cataclysms, caused the treasures 
of many of the great families to come on the market, with 



166 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

the result that they were bought up at prices often greatly 
below their intrinsic value and shipped from the country. 
They are of course gone for ever, and the only thing that 
now remains to Japan is to prevent as far as possible any 
of the treasures which she possesses meeting with a similar 
fate. I know perfectly well that art, like music, knows 
nothing of nationality, and that there is no reason why the 
resident of London or New York should not enjoy the 
beauties of Japanese art, and feast his eyes on the work of 
some great Japanese artist of three or four hundred years 
back just as much as the citizen of Tokio. This is in one 
sense true, but at the same time one cannot help sym- 
pathising with the patriotic desire of a people to retain in 
their midst specimens of the artistic conceptions and the 
artistic work of those famous men who are now ashes, but 
whose work remains as a symbol and an incentive to their 
countrymen to maintain a high standard, and to practise 
art simply and solely for the love of it. 



CHAPTER XIII 

JAPANESE ARCHITECTURE 

THERE are, perhaps, some superior persons who may 
consider that Japanese architecture has no claim 
to be regarded as art. These persons have no conception 
of art in architecture unless it be Doric, Gothic, Byzantine, 
Early English, or something of the kind, and unless it be 
expressed in bricks and mortar. Now Japanese architec- 
ture is only wood, but though only wood, as regards its 
majestic beauty, seemliness, and adaptability to the 
purposes for which it is intended, it stands unique. More- 
over, it is the only timber architecture in the world that 
has attained in any degree artistic importance. Almost 
every building in Japan is, or, to speak more accurately, 
was, constructed of wood — a fact possibly due to the inter- 
minable earthquakes to which the country was long, and is 
still occasionally, subjected. In Japanese architecture no 
brick or stone is used unless it be for foundations ; never- 
theless, this restriction to wood material has not prevented 
the Japanese architects of the past raising stupendous 
structures which in beauty of adornment and durability 
have long been the admiration of the Western world. 
The Temple of Nara, for example, was constructed three 
hundred years before the foundations of Westminster 

167 



168 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

Abbey were laid. As Dr. Dresser has pertinently re- 
marked in this connection : " What buildings can we show 
in England which have existed since the eighth century 
and are yet almost as perfect as when first built ? and yet 
our buildings rest on a solid foundation, and not on earth 
which is constantly rocked by natural convulsions." The 
porch of the temple of Todaji is erected upon pillars 
100 feet high by 12 feet in circumference, and yet this 
porch is merely the entrance to another porch equally 
large, which again is itself the approach to the temple 
containing an image of Buddha 53 feet high with a halo 
83 feet in diameter. The sanctuary of the ancient 
temple at Nara, already referred to, has columns quite 
100 feet high consisting of a single stem. These ancient 
fanes are not bald architectural ruins. Their decoration, 
as ancient as the building itself, is quite as permanent. 
They are ablaze in every part with majestic decorations 
in gold and all the colours of the rainbow, as gorgeous 
and impressive now as they were when first applied by 
the hands of the decorators more than a thousand years 
ago. As a recent writer on this subject has appositely 
remarked : " It is in detail the Japanese architect most 
excels, for if he conceives like a giant he invariably 
finishes like a jeweller. Every detail to the very nails, 
which are not dull surfaces but rendered exquisite 
ornaments, is a work of art. Everywhere we encounter 
friezes and carvings in relief, representing in quaint 
colour harmonies flowers and birds, or heavenly spirits 
playing upon flutes and stringed instruments." 

It must often strike the thinking man as a curious fact 
that these old religious edifices, whether in Europe or the 
Far East, seem to have a permanence about them such as 
is not characteristic of modern buildings of the same kind. 



JAPANESE ARCHITECTURE 169 

The reason, I think, must have been that the men who 
were employed in the designing and construction of these 
ancient buildings, whether in the East or West, were not 
mere mercenaries employed for a particular purpose, but 
men full of faith in their religion, a building in whose 
honour and for whose services they were employed to 
erect, and who threw into their work their whole souls, 
so to speak — gave, in fact, the best of what they had, and 
employed all their zeal, energy, and enthusiasm with a 
view of perpetuating, whether in stone, brick, or wood, the 
faith they so firmly held and so dearly loved. 

Some of the problems that the Japanese builders of the 
past had to face in the erection of a few of the great 
temples which still adorn the country have proved in- 
soluble to many European engineers and architects. The 
erection and support of the magnificent pagoda at Nikko 
is an example in point. Dr. Dresser has referred to this 
and pointed out what he deemed a great waste of material 
in connection therewith. He failed to understand for what 
reason an enormous log of wood ascended in the centre of 
a structure from its base to the apex — a log of wood about 
2 feet in diameter — while near the lower end one equally 
large was bolted to each of the four sides of the central 
mass. When Dr. Dresser expressed surprise on the subject 
he was told that the walls must be strong enough to 
support the central block ; and on his pointing out that 
the central block was not supported by the sides, he was 
taken up to the top of the building and the fact demon- 
strated to him that the huge central mass was suspended 
like the clapper of a bell. On descending again, while 
lying on the ground, he saw that there was quite an inch 
of space between the soil and the great pendulum — a safe- 
guard against damage by earthquake. For many hundreds 



170 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

of years the centre of gravity of this building has, by its 
swinging, been kept within the base, and the fact shows, 
were evidence needed, that the Japanese architects who 
designed this great Nikko Pagoda and similar structures 
were men of scientific capacities who had thought out 
every problem connected with the safety and permanence 
of the building they were employed to design. 

The domestic dwellings of the great mass of the 
Japanese people are of the simplest possible type. They 
are no doubt evolved from the hut of the Ainos, probably 
the aborigines of the islands, still to be found in the island 
of Yesso. There are no walls as we understand the term, 
the sides being composed, in winter, of amado, or sliding 
screens made of wood, and in summer of shoji, or oil-paper 
slides. This enables, in hot weather, the whole of the 
side of the house to be moved, and the air to be given free 
ingress and egress. Nor are these habitations divided off 
into permanent rooms, as in this and other European 
countries. Paper screens which slide into grooves divide 
the space according to requirements. The wood-work of 
these dwellings, which are largely composed of camphor- 
wood, is both within and without left unpainted, and they 
generally present a neat and alluring appearance. When 
one compares the dwelling-places of the poorest inhabi- 
tants of Japan with the hovels in this country, and more 
especially in Ireland, occupied by the peasants, one is 
really lost in wonder at the ignorance of those persons 
who call Japan, and no doubt still believe it to have 
been, an uncivilised country until it was brought inti- 
mately into association with Occidental nations. 

As we ascend in the social scale in Japan we find, of 
course, a difference in architecture. The principle remains 
very much the same, but, as might be expected, the build- 




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JAPANESE ARCHITECTURE 171 

ings are more elaborate and there is a wealth of ornamen- 
tation which is absent from those of the lower classes. 
I am inclined to think that what I may call ecclesiastical 
art has largely influenced the decoration of the houses of 
the nobles and upper classes in Japan. Many of the old 
feudal castles, which were gems of Japanese architecture, 
no longer exist, but some of those which still remain are 
exceedingly beautiful specimens of wooden architecture. 
The castle of Nagoya, built in the early part of the seven- 
teenth century, is supposed to be the finest specimen of 
the kind in Japan. 

But the Japanese never seems to have been overmuch 
concerned respecting his dwelling. To comprehend the 
beauty of Japanese architecture, to see it in its purity and 
to realise all the grandeur that can be crowded into it, it is 
necessary to study it in the religious edifices of the country. 
Plainness is the characteristic of the Shinto temple ; built 
as a rule of pine, it has a thatched roof The fact of its 
being an edifice of the Shinto religion is self-evident from 
the torii which stand before every Shinto temple. There 
are no idols or exterior ornamentation of any kind. The 
walls are left untouched by either the painter or the 
lacquerer. In the Buddhist temples, on the contrary, 
the Japanese artist has had afforded him full scope for the 
exercise of his ornamental ingenuity. Numerous court- 
yards have to be traversed before reaching the temple 
itself These courtyards contain many small buildings, 
bronze or stone lanterns, belfries, pavilions, pagodas, 
&c., &c., all elaborately decorated. Amongst the supple- 
mentary buildings connected with, but occasionally inde- 
pendent of, Buddhist temples, none is more interesting 
than the pagoda so intimately associated with Buddhism 
in every part of the Far East and so typically Oriental 



172 THE EMPIKE OF THE EAST 

in its architecture. What may have been the precise 
origin of these five- or seven-storied erections, for what 
purpose they were intended, or what symbolism, if any, 
they were the expression of, is now largely a matter of 
conjecture. No one who has visited the East can at any 
rate have failed to be impressed by them. In Japan 
where, save the lower storey, the whole is lacquered red, 
they are a striking feature of the country. The lower 
storey, by the way, is decorated with numerous painted 
carvings. Topping the whole building is the twisted spire 
of bronze. 

Like most other things in Japan, the origin and develop- 
ment of the architecture of the country is lost in the 
twilight of obscurity. Korea appears to have influenced 
Japanese architecture, just as it has Japanese art of various 
kinds. It is an extraordinary fact that this portion of 
Asia contiguous to the Japanese islands, which has for so 
many hundreds of years past exercised such a subtle 
influence on the art and industries of Japan, should at the 
commencement of the twentieth century have passed 
under the suzerainty of that country. When one fully 
comprehends the connection in various ways of Korea 
with Japan in all the past centuries, one begins to under- 
stand the sentimental feeling which has influenced the 
whole nation in regard to the possibility of Korea passing 
under the domination of any other Power. At the begin- 
ning of the third century Korea was invaded by Japan 
and, although the country was then conquered, it, as has 
not infrequently under similar circumstances happened in 
history, exercised a potent effect on both the art and 
architecture of Japan. Korean architecture, of course, 
was not original ; it was based on that of China, which in 
its turn came from Burmah, and that again probably 



JAPANESE ARCHITECTURE 173 

from India. In the course of the seventh century, how- 
ever, the imported architecture more or less assumed the 
general style which has since remained distinctly Japanese 
and although it undoubtedly embodies everything that 
was best in the architecture of the countries from which it 
derived its essential features, appears to me to have an 
originality of its own. No man who has not visited the 
great temples at Shiba and Nikko can understand to what 
heights of sublimity wooden architecture can rise, what a 
gorgeous tout ensemble can be accomplished by harmonious 
colour schemes deftly blended by artists who had made a 
study of colour and all the details connected therewith, 
and knew how to render a picturesque effect which should 
be imposing without being either gaudy or glaring. 

I am afraid that the results of Western civilisation have 
been, and will continue to be, fatal to Japanese architects. 
Judging by the buildings which have been erected in the 
country since Western influences have reigned supreme 
Japanese architecture is not only dead but buried. These 
edifices — hotels. Government buildings, railway stations 
and so on, are an attempt to combine Western and 
Japanese styles. The result is an incongruity, to ex- 
press it mildly, sufficient to cause the artistic mind to 
shudder. The men who built the temples at Shiba, at 
Nikko, and in various other parts of the country, and 
the pagodas which dot the land, are dead, and have 
left no successors. There is nothing, in my opinion, that 
is more likely to be influenced, and more injuriously influ- 
enced, by Western ideas than the architecture of Japan. 
There is a tendency in the country to erect European 
buildings, and I suppose it is one that it is impossible to 
complain of. The Japanese houses, although they have 
advantages in the summer-time, are undoubtedly not well 



174 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

fitted to withstand the rigours of winter ; and I have no 
doubt that, from the standpoint of material comfort, a 
replacement of them by buildings erected on European 
lines might be an advantage. But from the artistic point 
of view such a change is one impossible to contemplate 
without a feeling of regret. 

There is, of course, no human possibility of temples 
such as those at Shiba and Nikko ever again being erected 
in Japan. As I have previously remarked, buildings such 
as these are something more than mere material con- 
structions ; they are the embodiment in material form of 
a living faith which the designers and builders attempted 
to set forth in their work. An age of disbelief, of 
indifference, of agnosticism, is not conducive to the con- 
struction of such edifices. We need not go to Japan for 
evidence of that obvious fact. The hideous monstrosities 
in the shape of cathedrals, churches, and chapels that have 
been built in this country during the past century or two 
are abundant proof, were any needed, that the faith and 
piety whose outward and visible manifestation is to be 
seen in Westminster Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral, York 
Minster, and various other noble architectural fanes is no 
longer with us ; it has gone, and, apparently, inspiration 
with it. We can now only construct walls, and put roofs 
on them — admirable edifices, no doubt, to keep out the 
rain, but signifying nothing from an artistic or idealistic 
point of view. And so it is in regard to Japan. Archi- 
tecture there, considered as an art, is dead. It may be 
imitated or reproduced, but the reproduction will impose 
on no person of artistic sensibilities or knowledge, any 
more than a Sheraton reproduction hailing from the 
Tottenham Court Road would impose on a connoisseur 
as the genuine work of that great artist in furniture. 



JAPANESE ARCHITECTURE 175 

The art of Japan has, especially since the opening up 
of the country, been closely studied and investigated, and 
many learned tomes have been written concerning it. I do 
not, however, think that the art of the country as expressed 
in its architecture has received anything like the attention 
it deserves. This may possibly arise from the fact, to 
which I have already referred, that many people have 
what I may term a restricted definition or conception of 
art. Others there are, again, who consider wooden archi- 
tecture to be almost a contradiction in terms. Words or 
definitions in a matter of this kind seem to me to be 
childish. The lover of the beautiful, the admirer of the 
historic, the investigator of the ebb and flow of religious 
systems and of the sentiments and spirit that have 
influenced and moulded them at different periods of their 
existence, can in the ancient wooden temples of Japan 
find abundant material for enjoyment, instruction, reflec- 
tion. I have no hesitation in including these buildings in 
that surely expansive and comprehensive term, Art. 



CHAPTER XIV 

POSTAL AND OTHER MEANS OF COMMUNICATION 

THE advancement of a nation, may, I think, be 
accurately gauged by the facilities it possesses or 
has developed for the communication of its inhabitants, 
either by personal intercourse or those other means which 
science has of late years discovered or evolved for the 
transmission of thought, whether on business or other- 
wise — the letter post, the telegraph, and the telephone. 
I accordingly purpose briefly describing the extent to 
which, in these respects, Japan has assimilated and utilised 
Western ideas. 

I have already touched on the matter of railway com- 
munication, so I will not again refer to, it in any detail. 
I may, however, remark that although railways in Japan 
have done much to open up the country and provide for 
more frequent and rapid intercourse between man and 
man, they still lack much in the matter of European 
ideas of comfort. There are three classes of carriages, 
and the fares of each are extremely low. The gauge is 
narrow ; the carriages are open, as in America, with one 
long seat running down each side and a shorter one at the 
end. In the first-class carriages tea is provided, a kettle 
and teapot wherein to make the beverage being placed 

176 



MEANS OF COMMUNICATION 177 

on the floor between the seats for the use of passengers. 
No doubt ere long the Japanese will be more impressed 
than they appear to be at present as to the necessity for 
express trains, high speeds, Pullman and restaurant cars, 
as well as for other now indispensable characteristics of 
English and American railways. The initial railway line 
in Japan was that between Yokohama and the capital. It 
was popular and well patronised from the first, in contra- 
distinction to the record of railways in China, where the 
initial line — that between Shanghai and Wusung — had to 
be bought up and pulled up by the Chinese authorities, in 
view of the number of Chinamen who persisted in com- 
mitting suicide by placing themselves in front of the train 
as a protest — and a most effective protest, it must be 
admitted — against the introduction into their country of 
this contrivance of the " foreign devils." The contrast in 
the manner in which the introduction of railways was 
received in China and Japan respectively is, I think, 
characteristic of the difference in the disposition and 
mental attitude of the people of the two countries. 

A postal service modelled on that of Europe was 
inaugurated in Japan in 1871 by the introduction of 
a Government letter post between Tokio, Kyoto, Osaka, 
and Yokohama. Arrangements had, of course, long pre- 
viously existed for the transmission of official corre- 
spondence throughout the country, but private letters 
were conveyed by private carriers. The following year 
the ofHcial postal service was extended to the whole of 
Japan, but not till twelve months later were private 
carriers abolished and the post-office, with all its various 
ramifications, constituted a State monopoly. Postcards, 
embossed envelopes, newspaper wrappers, and all the 
paraphernalia — so far as they had then been developed — 

N 



178 THE EMPIRE OP THE EAST 

of European post-offices were adopted by the Japanese 
postal authorities, and caught on with the people with 
surprising rapidity. In 1875 mail steamers were estab- 
lished between Japan and the Chinese ports, and the next 
year Japan, which at that time had, as I have elsewhere 
mentioned, to view post-offices established in the treaty 
ports, herself planted Japanese post-offices in both China 
and Korea. The Postal Union was joined in 1877, and 
from that time the Japanese post-office has developed, 
pari passu with the post-offices of European countries 
until at the present time it is in some respects ahead of 
them in the matter of enterprise and the facilities it 
affords. The Inland Parcel Post was established in 1892, 
and it has had a marked effect in the opening up of the 
country and the familiarising of the people with many 
commodities, principally European, of which they had 
previously no knowledge. At the present time there are 
considerably over 6,000 post-offices. About a thousand 
millions of letters and postcards — a favourite means of 
communication — are handled yearly. The number of 
parcels at present sent through the post amounts to 
about eleven millions annually. 

Every description of post-office business as known in 
Europe is not only transacted in Japan, but, so far 
as results go to show, each new phase seems to fill 
a distinct want on the part of the people. Take the 
matter of postal orders for example, the introduction 
of which in this country was so vigorously opposed by 
the banking community, but a facility which has proved 
of incalculable utility and convenience to the mass of the 
public. Postal orders, when introduced into Japan, quickly 
came into favour. In the first year only a certain number 
of offices were authorised to issue and to pay these orders. 



MEANS OF COMMUNICATION 179 

This number has now been largely increased, and many 
millions of postal orders are at present annually sold in 
Japan. The International Postal Order Service has also 
assumed considerable dimensions, and has largely aided, 
I think, in the industrial and commercial development 
of the country. 

Post Office Savings Banks were established in Japan as 
far back as 1875. The object, as in this country, was to 
encourage thrift among the mass of the people. The 
maximum deposit in one year of any depositor is limited 
to 500 yen (about ;^5o). The Post Office Savings Bank 
has been largely utilised, and both the number of 
depositors and the sums deposited continue to grow on 
a scale which shows that the utility and benefit of this 
institution are greatly appreciated by the Japanese people. 
At first the Savings Bank was worked at a loss ; it took 
time to develop, while in its infancy banking methods 
were probably not as well understood by the Japanese 
authorities as they now are. At the present time the Post 
Office Savings Bank in Japan is so worked that it not only 
pays all its expenses but returns a profit to the national 
exchequer. In this respect it very favourably compares 
with the Post Office Savings Bank as administered in this 
country, which is not only worked at a loss, but, owing to 
various causes, has entailed a liability, nominal though it 
be, on the British taxpayer. 

Telegraphs were first introduced into Japan in 1869, 
and, as was the custom at that time in almost all countries, 
the telegraph followed the railway. The first line was 
between the capital and Yokohama. As time progressed 
some steps were taken in the direction of developing the 
system, but it was not until 1878 that the telegraph 
service in Japan was placed on a proper footing. In 1879 



180 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

the International Telegraph Union was entered. At the 
present time Japan is covered by a network of telegraph 
wires, and every important island is in communication 
with the capital. Telegrams may be sent either in the 
Japanese or European languages. Like every other 
means of communication, the telegraph has been rapidly 
adopted by the Japanese people, and it now forms such 
a part of the national life that it is almost impossible to 
imagine the country without a telegraph system. There 
are about 2,600 telegraph offices in Japan, and over twenty 
million messages are annually despatched therefrom. 
I think it will be admitted that — especially in view of 
the difficulties occasioned by the necessity of the 
operators in the telegraph offices being conversant to 
some extent with the characteristics of two absolutely 
different descriptions of languages — the progress made 
by Japan, and the development and extension of the 
telegraph service of the country, have been really 
remarkable. 

When the question of introducing telephones into Japan 
came up for consideration it was treated somewhat more 
practically than was the case with reference to a similar 
matter in this country. There was there as here a 
difference of opinion as to whether telephonic communica- 
tion should be left to private enterprise or be constituted 
a Government monopoly. After somewhat prolonged 
investigation it was decided that the telephone service 
should be set up and worked by the Government, and in 
the year 1890 the first telephone, that between Tokio and 
Yokohama, was opened. At first, strange to say, this new 
device of Western civilisation appears somewhat to have 
hung fire, and no general demand sprung up for the 
fitting of the telephone to private houses. It required, as 



MEANS OF COMMUNICATION 181 

indeed was the case in this country, some education of the 
people in regard to the paramount advantages of always 
having this means of communication at hand. The 
process of education in this respect was not prolonged. 
Before the telephone had been many years in the country 
the demand for its installation in houses and offices 
became so great that the Government had to obtain a 
special grant of money in order to carry out the necessary 
work. According to the latest returns there are some- 
where about 350 telephone offices open to the public, 
while the approximate number of messages transmitted 
is about I SO,ocx),ooo. The time is not far distant when, 
as I think will also be the case in this country, the 
telephone will be deemed to be an indispensable adjunct 
of almost every house in the towns of Japan. 

In connection with the means of communication one 
or two remarks in reference to tramways may not be 
out of place. These are entirely, or almost entirely, 
electric, and have certainly, if we are to judge by the 
patronage accorded to them, been very favourably 
received by the Japanese people. According to the 
latest returns I have available there were twenty-two 
tramway companies in Japan, which between them, in 
the year 1904, carried the very respectable total of over 
73,000,000 passengers. All of these lines save one are 
electric. The first electric tramway, that in Kyoto, was 
opened in 1895, so that the development of the country 
in this direction has proceeded rapidly. The Tokio 
Electric Tramway Company pays a dividend of 11 per 
cent, and although this is a record which some of 
the other lines have not yet attained, and may not 
possibly attain, nevertheless these matters must not 
be altogether looked at from the point of view of 



182 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

dividends. The shareholder very probably regards them 
from that standpoint, but I suggest that the facilities 
given to a town may be as great or even greater by a 
tramway paying 2, or 3, or 5 per cent, as by 
one paying double that figure. Indeed, large dividends 
are often earned by cutting down expenditure or abstain- 
ing from expenditure designed to increase the facilities 
of passengers. There is every prospect of electric tram- 
ways being extended to every town of any importance 
in Japan, and I am confident they will greatly aid iii 
the industrial development of the land. 

I cannot leave a consideration of the means of 
communication in Japan without making some reference 
to that somewhat peculiar vehicle which is by so 
many persons deemed to be essentially characteristic of 
the country, although, as a matter of fact, I believe it 
is of comparatively recent introduction, having been 
introduced either by a European or an American; I 
refer, of course, to the jinricksha. Before Japan became 
to so great an extent the objective point of the globe- 
trotter, and Europe, through the medium of numerous 
books, was rendered conversant with everything relating 
to the country, nothing more struck the imagination of 
the new arrival in Japan than the sight of this extra- 
ordinary vehicle — a kind of armchair on wheels with 
two shafts, pulled by a man scantily clad and with 
extremely muscular legs. Whoever was the individual 
responsible for the invention of the jinricksha, he certainly 
conferred a great boon on all foreigners resident in Japan 
before railways and tramways and other means of commu- 
nication became as prevalent as they now are. The long 
distances traversed by the man between the shafts of a 
jinricksha and the speed he attained and maintained were 




AERIAL TRANSPORT; BASKET SLUNG ON ROPES, PROVINCE OF HIDA 

FROAI A PRINT BY HIROSHIGE 



MEANS OF COMMUNICATION 183 

almost a marvel to the foreign visitor. It was possible to 
get about the country in one of these vehicles quite as fast 
as any horse-drawn vehicle could convey one, and quite as 
comfortably. I have heard it stated that the men who 
pull these vehicles unduly develop their legs at the 
expense of other portions of their body, and that the 
speed at which they run and which they certainly keep up 
for extraordinarily long periods has extremely injurious 
effects on their constitution, so that they are, as a rule, 
not long-lived. I am not aware, nor have I been able 
to ascertain, whether such statements are mere theories or 
have any foundation in fact. This much I will say, that the 
Japanese jinricksha-runners are an extraordinary class in 
reference to the speed which they attain dragging a goodly 
weight for a very long distance. It does not seem likely 
that the jinricksha, acclimatised as it has been in Japan, 
will be ousted by other modern contrivances for getting 
about the country. It is still very much in evidence, 
and it is universally admitted by those who have had 
experience of it to be a most comfortable means of 
locomotion. Why it has never come into favour, at least 
to any extent, elsewhere than in Japan I have never been 
able to understand. Certainly jinrickshas can be hired at 
Shanghai, and they are to be seen at one or two other 
places in the Far East, but it may be regarded as a 
distinctly Japanese vehicle, although, as I have said, there 
is nothing Japanese about it excepting its adaptation in 
the country. 

I remarked at the commencement of this chapter that 
we may properly gauge the progress of a nation by the 
facilities it possesses or has developed for inter-communi- 
cation personally and otherwise. I hope the few remarks 
I have made on this head may enable my readers to form 



184 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

some idea as to the position of Japan in this matter. I 
have not wearied them with statistics, but I have, I think, 
said enough to show that in everything relating to 
communication, whether it be the locomotion of the 
individual or the facilities given to him to communicate 
his wishes, desires, aspirations, sentiments, Japan is now 
well in line with all the other great civilised Powers, and 
has reason to be proud of the progress she has made and 
the manner in which she has adapted to the requirements 
of her people the ideas and inventions she has obtained 
from Europe and America. 



CHAPTER XV 

LAW AND ORDER 

IN every nation which aspires to be regarded as civilised 
the supremacy of the law and the maintenance of 
order are matters of supreme importance. The most 
perfect code of law ever devised is quite evidently of no 
importance unless adequate means exist for enforcing its 
provisions, and although justice may be lauded as a most 
admirable object of attainment, yet, unless the courts of 
the country are independent, hold the scales evenly and 
use the sword with impartiality, justice will remain merely 
a sentiment, and there will be no practical exemplification 
of it. I have considered in this book as tersely as possible 
most of the factors of civilisation in Japan. Let me 
briefly deal with this matter of law and order. 

When the Revolution was effected in 1868 the whole 
legal procedure of the country was thrown more or less 
into a condition of disorganisation. Prior to 1868, as my 
readers will have seen, feudal principles prevailed in Japan. 
The feudal lords, or Daimios, administered justice, or what 
passed for it, within their own territories, and they were 
answerable to the central authority. In theory the feudal 
lords were commissioners of the ruling sovereign from 
whom they derived their authority ; in practice they were 

185 



186 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

very largely a law unto themselves, and their subjects had 
little or no practical chance of redress in the event of their 
suffering any injustice. It is very difficult to ascertain 
whether there was in reality a legal code of any kind in 
existence and under the ken of these feudal lords. The legal 
system then in vogue appears to have been based for the 
most part on custom and usage. A writer on the subject 
has remarked that the few written laws were of a 
thoroughly practical character. Unfortunately I have 
not had an opportunity of acquainting myself with the 
nature of these laws. They were probably, like every- 
thing else in the country, imported from China, and 
indeed the Chinese legal system has been supreme in 
Japan until recently, and even now I am not quite certain 
that much of its influence does not remain. I have read 
that the fundamental principle underlying the written 
laws referred to was that : " The people should obey 
the law, but should not know the law." The code was 
accordingly a secret one. I have not space, nor indeed 
have I any inclination, to deal with what is, after all, 
an academical question as to the law prevalent in Japan 
prior to the Revolution. It was probably for the most 
part, just as in other countries when feudalism existed, 
a kind of rough-and-ready justice, which perhaps 
served its purpose well at the time, and depended more 
as regards the matter of justice upon the adminis- 
trator of it than upon the code itself. Though the 
Revolution took place in 1868, it was not until 1871 that 
the Daimios were deprived of all their administrative 
authority. The whole of the country was then divided 
into districts under the control of the central Government, 
and all relics of feudalism and class privileges, which had 
been numerous, were ruthlessly swept away. In due 



LAW AND ORDER 187 

course a civil code, commercial code, code of civil 
procedure, and code of criminal procedure were issued. 
One or two of these codes were found not to work well in 
practice, and they have been submitted to and revised by 
committees specially appointed for that purpose. 

As I stated in the chapter on the Constitution the 
independence of the judges is recognised and provided for. 
The legal system of Japan at the present time is eclectic. 
As I have said, the Chinese system of legal procedure long 
obtained, and its influences may perhaps to some extent 
still remain. Nevertheless Japan has gone to various 
countries and selected what she deemed good in each for 
her present legal system. The jurisprudence of both 
PVance and England have been largely drawn on. In 
reference to the civil law custom is, as might have been 
expected in view of the circumstances of the country, still 
strongly relied on. There has often been a difficulty in 
ascertaining custom owing to the changed and changing 
conditions of the nation, and in reference thereto very 
much the same procedure has followed as in this country 
where the question of custom is so frequently pleaded in 
the courts of law. Some of the German system of 
jurisprudence has also been included in the Japanese legal 
system. As I have elsewhere observed, the suggestion 
to abolish extra-territoriality, and with it the foreign 
courts in Japan, met with a considerable amount of 
opposition from the foreign community there who believed 
that they would not be able to obtain justice in the 
Japanese courts. These fears have been shown to be 
groundless, and it is now generally recognised that the 
foreigner in Japan need have no fear of going into a 
Japanese court where he is, whether it be a civil or 
criminal matter, certain to obtain a perfectly fair trial. 



188 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

Closely connected with law is the matter of police. In 
Japan the police of the country are entirely under the 
control of the State, just as are the constabulary in Ireland. 
The police are under the orders of the Minister of the 
Interior, who has a special office for dealing with the matter. 
The cost of the force is, however, paid by each prefecture, 
the State granting a small subsidy. According to the 
latest statistics, the police force of Japan amounted to 
something under 35,000 officers and men. When we con- 
sider that this body of men is responsible for the enforce- 
ment of the law and the preservation of order among some 
47,000,000 people, it will, I think, be admitted that the 
number is not excessive. The social condition of the 
Japanese police, if I may use such a term, is higher than 
that of the police in this and other countries. In Japan 
the police force had its genesis after the abolition of 
feudalism, and, as a matter of fact, a large proportion of 
the first members thereof belonged to the Samurai class. 
The social position and intellectual attainment of these 
young men gave what I may term a standing to the 
police force in Japan which it has not yet lost. Of course, 
nothing like the same class of men is now attracted to it, 
the salaries are comparatively small and the work is not 
over-congenial for people whose ideas are such as those of 
the Japanese. 

I may mention, as an interesting feature in this connec- 
tion, that the Government have established a police and 
prison college in Tokio, where both police and prison 
officials are effectively trained for the discharge of their 
duties. This college was established when extra-territori- 
ality was abolished, with the view of ensuring a higher 
training in view of the additional responsibilities that 
would devolve upon the police and prison officials. 



LAW AND ORDER 189 

From police I naturally come to some consideration of 
prisons. There are a large number of people in this 
country who have the idea in their mind that prisons are 
a weak point in all foreign countries, and that it is only in 
England that these regrettable institutions are properly 
managed. In fact the idea now seems to be prevalent 
here that we have gone too far in the direction of making 
prisons comfortable, and that excellent alliteration 
" Coddled Criminals " has more than once done duty in 
print in this connection. I consider that the present 
prison system in Japan is regulated and administered on 
sounder principles than those that obtain in this country. 
There are in all about 140 prisons in Japan. All the old 
prisons in the country were constructed of wood and 
arranged on the associate system. A separate cell system 
is, however, specially provided for foreign criminals, who 
are given clothes, bedding, and other articles to which they 
are used. The Government, a few years ago, commenced 
the construction of a number of new prisons, for the most 
part built of brick, in which a mixed system of separation 
and association, according to the offences of the prisoners, 
will be employed. The windows of these prisons were 
directed to be made especially large, so that the prisoners 
might have plenty of light and air. This is a matter in 
which some foreign Governments, that of this country 
included, might well take a lesson from Japan. 

It is pleasing to be able to state that since 1899 the 
inmates of the prisons have been decreasing in number. 
There is nothing quite analogous to the ticket-of-leave 
system in this country. Parole is suggested by a prison 
governor to the Minister of Justice in reference to any 
prisoner whom he may deem worthy of the privilege, 
provided that prisoner has completed three-fourths of the 



190 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

sentence imposed upon him and has shown a disposition 
to live more worthily. I do not quite know how this 
latter fact is made plain in gaol, but at any rate the 
prison governor has to be convinced of it. A prisoner 
thus released remains under police supervision during 
the remainder of his sentence. 

In Japan the death penalty is not confined to murder. 
It may be inflicted for robbery with violence, homicide, 
wounds inflicted by children upon their fathers, 
mothers, and grand-parents, as well as for arson. This 
sounds a somewhat drastic blood code, but when I state 
that the average number of persons executed in Japan 
does not exceed thirty a year, it will be seen that either 
the crimes mentioned are infrequent or that the punish- 
ment of death is only inflicted in extreme cases. 

One interesting feature of the Japanese prison system is 
the granting of medals to criminals who have shown an 
amendment of their lives by good conduct and diligence 
at their work. The privileges enjoyed by persons possess- 
ing these medals are so interesting that I will transcribe 
them here : — 

1. All medallists are supplied with superior kinds of 
garments and other articles. 

2. Each medallist is allowed to send out two letters 
per month. 

3. Medallists enjoy the privilege of bathing prior to 
other prisoners, hot water being used in accordance with 
the general custom of the Japanese people. 

4. The supply of accessories is increased in quantity 
every week for medallists, according to the number of 
medals granted, to the extent of an increased expense of 
two sen or less for one meal per person. This increase 
is granted once a week to the possessor of two medals, 



LAW AND ORDER 191 

and three times a week for each possessor of three 
medals. 

5. The allotment of earnings is made in the following 
proportion, the remainder being applied to prison ex- 
penses : — 

Three-tenths to each felon to whom one medal has been 
granted. 

Four-tenths to each misdemeanant to whom one medal 
has been awarded. 

Four-tenths to each felon having been granted two 
medals. 

Five-tenths to each felon possessing three medals. 

Six-tenths to each misdemeanant granted three medals. 

There is no need for me to deal with the question 
of punishment of criminals in Japanese prisons. I may, 
however, remark that in respect of foreign criminals every 
effort is made to treat them in accordance with their 
conditions of national life in regard to bathing, food, &c. 
In reference to the question of prison labour, which has 
become somewhat of a vexed economic problem in this 
country, the Japanese authorities do not appear to 
experience much difficulty. The object of the prison 
system of labour is to give the prisoners a careful training, 
and to encourage diligence, so that on their return to the 
world they may not experience difficulty in obtaining 
employment. The labour is of two kinds — Government, 
and for private individuals. In the latter case the neces- 
sary labour is obtained from the prisons direct, the 
employers supplying the material. I think this part of 
the system is perhaps open to question, as it has been 
found in other countries productive of grave abuses. 

The discharged prisoner in Japan, as in other countries, 
finds a difficulty in obtaining employment, and several 



192 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

societies similar to those in existence here have been 
established with a view of assisting discharged prisoners. 
I have not sufficient information to enable me to say 
what measure of success these societies have achieved. 
In a country like Japan, which is endeavouring to perfect 
all her institutions, I hope that the discharged prisoner 
problem will be solved otherwise than by philanthropic 
societies. The criminal who has completed his sentence 
ought to be deemed to have purged his offence, and has 
a right to return to the community and obtain work until, 
if ever, he again misconducts himself. 

I hope my few remarks on the subject of the means 
taken in Japan to maintain law and order will tend to 
convince my readers that in every detail of her adminis- 
tration Japan has shown a capacity for adapting what is 
good in foreign nations and moulding it for her own 
purposes. The foreign community in Japan has long 
since got over its state of panic in regard to the danger of 
suing and being sued in Japanese courts, and the possibility 
of being an inmate of a Japanese gaol. The years that 
have elapsed since the treaties were revised have demon- 
strated clearly that, if anything, extra consideration is 
shown to the foreigner in all the details of the adminis- 
tration of the law in Japan. I remarked at the beginning 
of this chapter that the supremacy of the law and the 
maintenance of order are matters of supreme importance 
in every civilised country. Japan has recognised this fact, 
and she has acted upon the recognition thereof with most 
admirable results. 



CHAPTER XVI 

LITERATURE AND THE DRAMA 

THE literature of Japan is a somewhat recondite 
subject, while the Japanese drama is at present, like 
many other things in the country, to a great extent in a 
state of transition. Still, some remarks on these two 
matters are, I consider, absolutely essential in order that 
my readers may form some idea of two important phases 
of Japanese life. The literature of Japan is indeed largely 
mixed up with the national life through many centuries — 
a reflection, in fact, of it. The late Sir Edwin Arnold, whose 
great authority on everything connected with Japan is 
generally admitted, has observed in reference to the 
literature of that country : " The time will come when 
Japan, safe, famous, and glad with the promise of peaceful 
years to follow and to reward this present period of life 
and death conflict, will engage once again the attraction 
of the Western nations on the side of her artistic and 
intellectual gifts. Already in this part of the globe 
persons of culture have become well aware how high and 
subtle is her artistic genius ; and by and by it will be 
discovered that there are real treasures to be found in her 
literature. Moreover, England, beyond any other Euro- 
pean country, is likely to be attracted to this branch, at 

O 193 



194 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

present naturally neglected, of what may be called the 
spiritual side of Japanese life." 

The drawback to the fulfilment of the somewhat opti- 
mistic forecast of Sir Edwin Arnold is the great difficulty 
experienced by the Western nations in acquiring a 
sufficient knowledge of the language in which the treasures 
of Japanese literature are embedded if not entombed. No 
man can ever grasp the beauties of a literature, and 
especially an Oriental literature, through the medium of 
a translation, however well done. A translation is like a 
diamond with the brilliancy removed, if we can imagine 
such a thing. It may be faultlessly correct in its render- 
ing, and yet absolutely misleading in its interpretation of 
the original. 

Japanese literature embraces poetry, history, fiction, 
books of ceremony and travel, as well as many works 
of an ethical nature. Poetry is supposed to have reached 
its most brilliant period in Japan a long way back — long 
even before Geoffrey Chaucer took up his pen to write 
those immortal lines which I fear but comparatively few 
Englishmen now read. In reference to this poetry of 
twelve hundred years ago, Mr. Aston — perhaps the 
greatest authority on the subject — remarks : " While the 
eighth century has left us little or no prose literature of 
importance, it was emphatically the golden age of poetry. 
Japan has now outgrown the artless effusions described 
in the preceding chapter, and during this period produced 
a body of verse of an excellence which has never since 
been surpassed. The reader who expects to find this 
poetry of a nation just emerging from the barbaric stage 
of culture characterised by rude, untutored vigour, will be 
surprised to learn that, on the contrary, it is distinguished 
by polish rather than power. It is delicate in sentiment 



LITERATURE AND THE DRAMA 195 

and refined in language, and displays exquisite skill of 
phrase with a careful adherence to certain canons of 
composition of its own." 

I confess my knowledge of the language is insufficient 
to enable me to read Japan's literary treasures in the 
original, and as I have remarked, no man through the 
medium of a translation can adequately form a correct 
opinion respecting any description of foreign literature. 
I fear, however, that modern Japan is as little concerned 
with its eighth-century poetry as the modern Englishman 
is with that of Chaucer, not to speak of those great poets, 
most of whom are now forgotten, who lived long before 
Chaucer and whose verses were not only read but sung 
throughout the length and breadth of the land. 

In a much later period of the history of the country, 
literature was undoubtedly greatly in vogue. There was 
evolved what I may term a distinct literary class, the 
language and literature of China were diligently studied, 
and very much of the literature of this time is written 
in Chinese. That language, indeed, seems to have been 
at one period regarded in Japan very much as Latin 
was, and in some quarters is even still, regarded in Europe 
as the appropriate medium for expressing the most sublime 
thoughts of the brightest intellects. The fiction of this 
period, usually termed the Heian — and there is plenty of 
it still in existence — was for the most part written by 
women, so that it will be seen the female novelist is not, 
as some persons appear to imagine, a comparatively 
modern development. After the twelfth century — and 
most of the literature I have referred to is anterior to that 
— petty wars between the feudal princes appear to have 
been incessant, and the whole country was for a great 
number of years more concerned with fighting than with 



196 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

literature. History or historical romance seems to have 
been the favourite literary exercitation during this period. 
A good deal of the literature thereof is still, I understand, 
read in Japan, especially by its youth, for whom the 
stirring episodes embodied in the history and historical 
romances of these bellicose times seem to have an especial 
fascination. 

The Tokugawa period, covering the 270 years during 
which the Government of the Tycoon was installed in 
Yeddo, was one during which literature made great 
progress in Japan. Those years were a time of profound 
peace ; the country was cut off from the rest of the world, 
thrown in upon itself, and accordingly had ample leisure, 
and possibly much inclination, to develop its artistic side, 
especially in literature. The study of books was prevalent 
everywhere, and quite a band of teachers arose in the land 
whose mission it was to expound its ancient literature, and 
exhume for public edification and delectation many of the 
buried literary treasures of the past. These teachers were 
not content with mere oral description ; they wrote what 
would now be termed treatises or commentaries, many of 
which show great depth of learning, by way of expounding 
and explaining the classics of Japan with a view of 
bringing them within the ken of the great mass of the 
people. This period (the Tokugawa) also had its works 
of fiction ; it produced many dramas and, I believe, some, 
if not much, poetry. The romances of this time are, I am 
told, written principally for or down to the level of the 
common people. The classics of Japan were, and probably 
still are, like the classics of Greece and Rome in respect of 
the mass of the people of this country, not understood, 
and most likely were they, would not be appreciated. 
And hence in the Tokugawa period what I may term 



LITERATURE AND THE DRAMA 197 

the popular writer was evolved, and he turned out, under 
a nom- de-plume for the most part, books for the lower 
orders. These works are now regarded as somewhat 
vulgar, but they are in many respects a mirror of the 
age in which they were written, and it is doubtful if they 
are much coarser in style than some of the novels 
published in England in the eighteenth century. Vulgarity, 
it must be remembered, is largely a matter of opinion, 
and because either the Japanese of to-day or the foreigner 
who has perused, perhaps in a translation, this fiction of 
a couple of centuries back, dubs it according to the 
opinion of to-day vulgar, it by no means follows that it 
was so considered in Japan two hundred years back. 

Since the Revolution of 1868 it is doubtful if Japan has 
produced any distinctive literature. The whole country 
and all the national modes of thought have been in a state 
of transition, a condition of unrest — circumstances not 
conducive to the production of classical literature ; more- 
over, literary ideas and conceptions have changed and are 
still changing — changing rapidly. The development of a 
powerful newspaper press must have a marked and far- 
reaching effect on Japanese literature. So also must the 
study of Western literature by the educated classes — a 
study which is both extensive and increasing. Japanese 
literature is now undoubtedly in the melting-pot, so to 
speak, and what will be the precise result it is impossible 
to determine. It must be confessed that the modern 
Japanese who has been educated according to Western 
methods, and is adequately acquainted with the languages 
and literature of Europe, is infrequently an admirer of the 
peculiar literature of his own country. Possibly it suffers 
by comparison. Japan has produced no Dante, or Shake- 
speare, or Milton. The moods of her people, and probably 



198 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

the limitations and peculiarities of the language, have 
prevented the possibility of the appearance of such divine 
geniuses. There is, its critics declare, an absence of 
sustained power and sublimity in Japanese literature 
generally, while the didactic and philosophical, if not 
altogether lacking, is extremely rare therein. But it 
seems to me the height of absurdity to compare the 
literature of a country like Japan with the literature of 
some other land where everything is, and always has 
been, essentially different. To properly comprehend, and 
probably to be able to appreciate Japanese literature, it 
would be necessary to get, so to speak, into the atmo- 
sphere in which it was produced. To judge it by twentieth- 
century standards and canons of criticism and from 
European standpoints is not only unfair but must create 
a totally false impression. 

In every country which has attained any degree of 
civilisation, and even in some countries whose civilisation 
is still imperfect, the drama has played an important part, 
and Japan has been no exception to the rule. Its dramatic 
literature is, I believe, of considerable extent, and to 
understand, much less appreciate it properly would require 
very profound study. Many of the more or less ancient 
dramas are works not only containing the dialogue of 
the play but much descriptive matter. They were, as a 
matter of fact, written for theatres in which there were 
to be not actors but marionettes, singers being engaged 
to sing the lines out of sight while the puppets depicted 
the characters. Some of these dramas have, since they 
were written, been adapted for the ordinary stage and the 
characters portrayed by Japan's most famous actors. The 
theatre was long looked down upon and it is only of 
comparatively recent years that it has been looking up. 






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LITERATURE AND THE DRAMA 199 

A large number of persons in this country still appear to 
be under the impression that there are no actresses on the 
Japanese stage. This is, of course, a mistake, caused no 
doubt by the fact that in Japanese theatres the female 
characters in a play are so often impersonated by men. 
Some two or three centuries back actors and actresses 
used, as in Europe, to play in the same piece, but this was 
for some reason or other interdicted, and ever since there 
have been companies composed of men and women 
respectively. In the male companies some of the female 
parts naturally fell to men and in the female companies 
the male parts were of necessity depicted by women. Of 
recent years the tendency is to revert to the ancient 
practice and to come into line with the custom of 
European countries in this matter, and ere long, no doubt 
in Japanese theatres the female characters will be taken 
by women and the male characters by men. 

The theatre has always been a popular institution in 
Japan, and the pieces usually played have very much 
the same motif ^^ the dramas formerly so popular in this 
country — the discomfiture of the villain and the triumph 
of virtue. The Japanese theatre does not appeal to the 
ordinary European visitor, or indeed to many Europeans 
living in the country. In the first place, the performance 
is too long for the European taste, and in the next, most 
Japanese plays are of one kind, and concerned with one 
period — the feudal. There is, moreover, a plethora of 
by-play — sword exercise and acrobatic performances — ■ 
which have nothing whatever to do with the plot of the 
piece. In fact, irrelevancy appears to the European the 
chief characteristic of what he sees on the stage of a 
Japanese theatre. Nor does the play, as is usual in 
serious dramas in this country, revolve round one character, 



200 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

the hero or heroine. Indeed it is not always easy to 
earmark, so to speak, the leading character, and it is 
occasionally doubtful in many Japanese plays whether 
there is any hero or heroine. But the same remark may 
be made here as in reference to the literature of the 
country. It is probably essential to get into the Japanese 
atmosphere in order to properly appreciate a Japanese 
play. The drama in Japan at any rate serves, and so 
far as I have had an opportunity of forming an opinion 
in the matter, serves well, its purpose to interest and 
amuse the frequenters of the theatres, besides which the 
lessons it inculcates are for the most part of a moral 
nature. 

The high art of the Japanese theatre is represented by 
the " No," which I suppose fills much the same position 
as does the Italian opera in this country. The " No " 
is, I believe, very ancient. The written text is sung ; 
there is a principal and a secondary character and a 
chorus. The dialogue is as ancient, some critics say as 
archaic, as the time in which the play was written, and 
I understand it requires being educated up to it in order 
to fully appreciate the " No." The ordinary Japanese 
would probably just as much fail to comprehend or like 
it as would the Englishman from Mile End, were he 
taken to Covent Garden, and invited to go into raptures 
over one of Mozart's or Meyerbeer's masterpieces. A 
performance of the " No " would probably interest those 
who find excitement in a representation of "QEdipus 
Tyrannus," or some Greek play. Still, the "No" is 
appreciated by a large number of the intellectual classes 
in Japan, who find an interest in the representation of 
this Japanese opera, as I suppose it may be termed. 

As I have already said, very much the ^ame remarks 



LITERATURE AND THE DRAMA 201 

made in reference to the literature of Japan apply to its 
drama. That country is still in the transition stage, 
and both its drama and its literature will undoubtedly 
be profoundly modified in future years. Western litera- 
ture and Western dramatic art have already exercised 
considerable influence, and there are movements on foot 
whose object is to replace the old ideas and methods, 
especially in the matter of the representation of dramatic 
works by those which obtain in Europe and America. 
Whether these movements will be successful or not 
remains to be seen. There is certainly a large body of 
public opinion not only opposed but antagonistic to them. 
In spite of the rapid development of Japan in recent years, 
there is a very strong conservative party in the country — 
a party which, though it recognises or acquiesces in the 
desirability of change in many directions, is not prepared 
to throw overboard everything because it is old. I sin- 
cerely hope that the distinctive literature and dramatic 
art of the country will not be allowed to die out. Japan 
cannot afford to forget the past with its influences on 
the national life and character, influences at work for 
many ages which have assuredly had a material effect 
in elevating her to the position she at present occupies. 



CHAPTER XVII 

NEWSPAPERS IN JAPAN 

JAPAN having taken on most of the characteristics and 
some of the idiosyncracies of Western civilisation, 
has naturally developed a newspaper press of its own. 
Of course newspapers in Japan are no new thing. Mr. 
Zumoto, editor of the Japan Times, claims for Japanese 
journalism an origin as far back as the early part of the 
seventeenth century. " Long before," he remarks, " our 
doors of seclusion were forced open by the impatient 
nations of the West, our ancestors had found a device 
by which they kept themselves in touch with current 
events and news. The news-sheets of those days were 
roughly got up, being printed from wooden blocks hastily 
purchased for each issue. They were meagre in news, 
uncouth in form, and quite irregular in appearance, there 
being no fixed date for publication. Neither were they 
issued by any particular and fixed publisher. Anybody 
could issue them, and at any time they pleased. These 
sheets were called Yomuri, which, being translated, means 
* sold by hawking.' " These ancient newspapers had, 
however, palpably nothing in common with modern 
journalism, and anything in the shape of criticism or 
comment, or any attempt to guide or mould public 

202 



NEWSPAPERS IN JAPAN 203 

opinion was, of course, not to be found therein. He would 
have been a bold man at the beginning of the seventeenth 
century, or indeed very much later, who would have 
ventured to print and publish anything tending to influ- 
ence public opinion, or having the appearance of being 
a criticism on those in authority. 

We may take it that for all practical purposes the rise 
of the native newspaper press of Japan did not take place 
till some time after the Revolution of 1868. If its rise 
has been recent its progress has certainly been rapid. 
There can be no question that both the rise and develop- 
ment of the vernacular press has been largely influenced 
by English journalism. There have always, since the 
opening of the country, been English newspapers in 
Japan, and very admirable newspapers too. One or more 
Englishmen have started papers printed in Japanese, and 
although these ventures were not commercially successful, 
they, at any rate, showed the way for Japanese journalism. 
Mr. Kumoto in his very interesting remarks published in 
Stead's "Japan and the Japanese," gives an amusing 
illustration of the somewhat amateur business lines on 
which the native Japanese newspapers were at first pro- 
duced. He quotes the following notice which appeared 
in one of them : " The editors note with satisfaction the 
growing prosperity of their venture, and notify their sub- 
scribers that in view of the increased labour and trouble 
entailed on them by their increasing circulation, the 
gracious subscribers will kindly spare them the trouble by 
sending for their copies instead of having them delivered 
to them as before." There has certainly been a remarkable 
development in the Japanese newspaper press since this 
somewhat jejune announcement was published. Tokio 
at the present time possesses about forty daily newspapers, 



204 THE EMPIRE OP THE EAST 

and there is hardly a town in the country of any import- 
ance that has not one or two papers of its own. There 
are now more than a thousand magazines and newspapers 
of various kinds published in the country— a number which 
yearly increases, and is certain to increase in the near 
future to a very much greater extent. 

But besides newspapers, Japan possesses news agencies 
on somewhat similar lines to those that exist in this 
country, whose function it is to supply the press with 
the latest news on every matter of public and, I am afraid, 
sometimes of merely private importance. Whether these 
news agencies perform useful functions either in this 
country or in Japan, is a matter upon which I shall 
express no opinion. News acquired in a hurry in com- 
petition with other agencies which exist for a similar 
purpose, and purveyed to journals printed in a hurry and 
read in a hurry, does not often allow of discrimination 
being exercised in regard to its circulation. The sen- 
sational element in the native press in Japan is quite as 
much in evidence as in that of this country. In regard 
to this kind of literary fare, the appetite increases with 
feeding, if I may vary an old French proverb, and the 
sensational journals of the Japanese capital are increasing 
in demand from every part of the country. 

As to the part which the press of Japan exercises in 
moulding public opinion, I confess I have not formed any 
clear idea ; indeed, it is one upon which it is difficult to 
come to any conclusion. How far the press there moulds, 
and how far it follows public opinion is somewhat pro- 
blematical. Be that as it may, many of the native papers 
are vigorously and effectively written, and indeed many 
eminent men in Japan have been either directly or in- 
directly connected with the press. The newspapers of 



NEWSPAPERS IN JAPAN 205 

Japan differ in this respect from those of this country — 
that there is a press law there, and newspapers are in 
theory, at any rate, somewhat more hampered in their 
criticisms and the publication of news than is the case 
here. This press law seems to have irritated the English 
more than the vernacular press of Japan, especially during 
the late war. Under the provisions of the law, a warning 
is always given to an offending newspaper before any 
official action is taken. The English journals in Japan 
have, perhaps not unnaturally, not so far been able to 
divest themselves of the idea that they have still extra- 
territorial rights, and are consequently justified in publish- 
ing any criticisms or news irrespective of the provisions of 
the press law. 

Newspapers in Japan do not of course attain such large 
circulations as some of those in England. I do not 
think there is any paper in the country with a circulation 
exceeding 100,000, and there are only one or two which 
reach anything like that figure. Advertising in Japan 
in papers has not attained the same importance as in 
this country. Of course all the journals, whether daily 
or weekly, have a large number of advertisements, but 
the non-advertisement portion of the paper forms a greater 
portion of the whole than is the case here. It may 
interest some of my readers to know that poetry which 
has long been tabooed by the press of this country is still 
a feature in that of Japan, and that the novel "to be 
continued in our next," is also served up for the delectation 
of Japanese readers. 

A free press in a free country is no doubt an admirable 
institution, but it has its disadvantages. I need not 
enumerate them, as my readers probably know them 
as well as I do myself. Indeed, both in England and 



206 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

America of late years we have had plenty of object- 
lessons, were any needed, in regard to these disadvantages. 
" The yellow press " is a phrase which has now come 
into general use to denote the certain kind of journalism 
which lives and thrives by pandering to the desire that 
so many persons in this world have for morbid sensa- 
tionalism and the publication of nauseating and shocking 
details. People who have appetites of this kind are in 
need of having them perennially gratified, and accordingly 
it naturally comes about that the conductors of journals 
such as I have referred to, if they cannot provide a 
sufficient quantity of sensationalism true or partly true, 
have either to invent it or exaggerate some perhaps 
innocent or innocuous incident. I am sorry to say 
that yellow journalism is not only not unknown in Japan, 
but is apparently in a very flourishing condition there. 
I regret the fact all the more because the people of Japan 
are not yet sufficiently educated or enlightened to receive 
what they read in the newspaper in a sceptical spirit. 
That educational and enlightening process is only effected 
by a long course of newspaper reading. Even in this 
country we can remember the time when any statement 
was implicitly believed because it was " in the papers." 
Now some other and better evidence of the truth of 
any report is needed than the publication thereof in a 
newspaper. Young Japan will no doubt ere long 
assimilate this fact, and when it does the yellow press 
of Japan will probably find its clientele a diminishing 
quantity. I hope my readers will not deduce from 
these remarks that I entertain, on the whole, a poor opinion 
of the native press of Japan. Considering the diffi- 
culties it has had to contend with, I consider that the 
progress it has made during the comparatively few years 



NEWSPAPERS IN JAPAN 207 

it has been in existence is as wonderful as anything 
in the country. And I am furthermore of opinion that 
the influence it exercises is, on the whole, a healthy one. It 
has done a great work in the education of the mass of 
the Japanese people in the direction of taking a broader 
view of life and teaching them that there is a world 
outside their own particular locality and beyond their own 
country. And while referring to the newspaper press I 
may also give a meed of praise to the large number 
of journals and magazines of a literary, scientific, and 
religious nature. The effect of these ably conducted 
periodicals as an educational influence must be immense. 
The number of them is gradually growing, and the support 
rendered to them serves to show, were any proof needed, 
how profoundly interested the Japan of to-day is in 
all those questions, whether political, scientific, religious, or 
literary, which are not the possession of or the subject 
of discussion among any particular nation but are 
exercising the minds and consciences of the civilised 
world. 

One pleasing feature of the native press of Japan I 
cannot help referring to, and that is the friendly sentiments 
which it almost invariably expresses in regard to Great 
Britain. As I have before remarked, it was this country 
which in some degree influenced at first the Japanese press. 
I am pleased that of late at any rate, since the somewhat 
heated agitation in reference to the revision of the treaties 
has come to an end, its tone has been almost universally 
friendly to this country, and its approval of the alliance 
between Japan and Great Britain was not only unanimous 
but enthusiastic. 

The English newspapers in Japan are still, as they have 
always been, ably conducted journals. Captain Brinkley, 



208 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

the editor of one of them, is a great authority on every- 
thing connected with Japan, and the paper he edits is 
worthy of all that is best in English journalism. At 
the same time it is hardly necessary to remark that the 
English press in Japan exercises little or no influence 
outside the immediate circle it represents. It very 
naturally looks at everything, or almost everything, not 
from the point of view of the Japanese but from that 
of the foreigner in Japan. It may be truthfully averred 
of the foreign press that, considered as a whole, it has never 
done anything or attempted to do anything to break down 
the barriers caused by racial differences. The European 
press in Japan has in tone always been distinctly anti- 
Japanese, and the sentiments which it has expressed 
and the vigorous, not to say violent, language in which 
those sentiments have been expressed has undoubtedly 
in the past occasioned much bitterness of feeling among 
the Japanese people or that portion of it which either read 
or heard of those sentiments. The characteristics or 
idiosyncracies of the people of Japan were either 
exaggerated or misrepresented, and there were not 
unnaturally reprisals quite as vigorous in the native 
newspapers. During the war with China, for example, 
the attitude of the European press was exasperating 
to a degree — that is, exasperating to the Japanese people. 
There were journals which avowedly took the part of 
China and expressed a desire for China's success. The 
victories of Japan in the course of the war were sneered 
at and at first belittled. Subsequently, when the success 
of Japan was self-evident, it was suggested by some of 
these newspapers that she was suffering from swelled head 
and was in need of being put in her place and kept there. 
And, accordingly, when certain of the European Powers 



NEWSPAPERS IN JAPAN 209 

stepped in and deprived Japan of the fruits of her victories, 
the action of those Powers was applauded, and the 
undoubted sympathy of the English people in England 
with Japan in the matter was derided by English editors 
in Japan as mere maudlin sentimentality. Language 
of this kind occasioned deep resentment among the people 
of the country. The foreign press is now, I am glad 
to say, saner, inasmuch as it to some extent recognises 
facts and the trend of events, but I fear it even still is 
for the most part representative of a community which 
regards the Japanese from the standpoint that most 
Europeans in the Far East regard the Eastern races 
with whom they are brought in contact. The position of 
the English papers in Japan has, I should say, been 
considerably affected of recent years by the development 
of the vernacular press. Twenty-five years or so ago they 
were practically the only organs that voiced public 
opinion of any kind in the country. Now they only 
voice the opinion of a section of the foreign community. 
A reference to a quarter of a century ago brings up 
memories of a gentleman connected to some extent with 
the newspaper press in Japan of those days. I refer to the 
late Mr. Wergman, who owned and edited and filled — I 
am not quite certain he did not print — that somewhat 
extraordinary journal, the Yokohama Punch. It 
appeared at uncertain intervals, and it dealt both in 
print and illustration with various members of the foreign 
community in Yokohama and its neighbourhood with a 
vigour and freedom, not to say licence, which would 
now hardly be tolerated. Its proprietor is long since dead, 
and so I believe is the journal which he owned and whose 
fitful appearances used to create such a mild excitement 
among the foreign community in Yokohama. 



210 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

The functions of the press as a mirror of the times, 
as a censor of men and things, and as a guide and a leader 
of public opinion are of considerable importance. As 
I have before remarked the press of Japan is at present 
if not in its infancy at any rate in its youth. It is 
accordingly ebullient, energetic, optimistic. Time will no 
doubt correct many of its failings. Be that as it may, 
I certainly am of opinion that, considering everything, 
it has attained a wonderful degree of development, that 
it has reached a position of great importance in the 
country as an educational and enlightening influence, and 
that all who wish well to Japan may look upon its 
future with hope. It will no doubt play an important part 
as the years roll by in the development of the country and 
in the holding up before the people of worthy ideals in 
reference to economic conditions, material progress, and 
the conservation of the prestige and security of the 
Japanese Empire. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

JAPANESE MORALITY 

IN the Preface I remarked that Japanese morality was a 
thorny subject. I use the word morality in its now 
generally accepted rather than in its absolutely correct 
meaning. Morality, strictly speaking, is the practice of 
moral duties apart from religion or doctrine ; it treats of 
actions as being right or wrong — is, in brief, ethics. The 
old " morality " play, for example, was not, as some people 
seem to suppose, especially concerned with the relations of 
the sexes ; it was a drama in which allegorical represen- 
tations of all the virtues and vices were introduced as 
dramatis personcB. However, words, like everything else 
in this world, change their meaning, and, though the 
dictionary interpretation of morality is, as I have stated it, 
colloquially at any rate, the word has now come for the 
most part to signify sexual conduct, and it is in that sense, 
as I have said, I use it. 

The subject of the morality of the Japanese is one that 
has been much discussed for many years past, and accord- 
ingly is one in regard to which it may be urged that there 
is little or nothing more to be said. I am not of that 
opinion. In the first place, much of the discussion has 
been simply the mere assertions of men, or sometimes of 

211 



212 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

women, who either did not have the opportunity, or else 
had not the inclination, to investigate matters for them- 
selves, and were therefore largely dependent on the hear- 
say evidence of not always unprejudiced persons. Or they 
sometimes jumped to very pronounced and erroneous 
conclusions from extremely imperfect observation or 
information. Let me take as an example in point, a lady, 
now dead, who wrote many charming books of travel — the 
late Mrs. Bishop, better known as Miss Bird. In her 
journeyings through the country Miss Bird relates in 
" Unbeaten Tracks in Japan," that she passed through a 
wide street in which the houses were large and handsome 
and open in front. Their highly polished floors and 
passages, she remarks, looked like still water, the kake- 
monos, or wall pictures, on their side-walls were extremely 
beautiful, and their mats were very fine and white. There 
were large gardens at the back with fountains and flowers, 
and streams, crossed by light stone bridges, sometimes 
flowed through the houses. The lady, who was on the 
look-out for a resting-place, not unnaturally expressed a 
desire to put up at one of these delightful sylvan retreats, 
but her native attendant informed her that was impossible, 
as they were kashitsukeyas, or tea-houses of a disrepu- 
table character. Miss Bird, on the strength of this infor- 
mation, thought it incumbent upon herself to pronounce 
the somewhat sweeping judgment that " there is much 
even on the surface to indicate vices which degrade and 
enslave the manhood of Japan." Such a statement is, of 
course, the merest clap-trap, but even were it true, it 
might be permissible to remark that if vice exists it is 
surely better for it to be on than beneath the surface. 
Such vice as does exist in Japan is, in my opinion, dis- 
tinctly on the surface, and, I have no hesitation in 



JAPANESE MOEALITY 213 

describing the morals of the Japanese people to be, on the 
whole, greatly superior to those of Western nations. 

There can, I think, be no question that a large number 
of European people have formed their estimate of Japanese 
women either from a visit to a comic opera such as " The 
Geisha," or from a perusal of a book like Pierre Loti's 
fascinating work, " Madame Chrysantheme." This is in 
effect the story of a liaison between a man and a Japanese 
girl of the lower classes, with, of course, a large amount of 
local colouring, and rendered generally charming by the 
writer's brilliant literary style. Unfortunately, that large 
number of Europeans who have never visited Japan have 
taken the French academician's study of a girl of a certain 
class as a life picture of the typical Japanese woman who 
is, accordingly, deemed to be more or less, to use an 
accepted euphemism, a person of easy virtue. Nothing 
could, of course, be more erroneous, no conclusion further 
from the truth. The remarks of Mr. Arthur Diosy in his 
book, " The New Far East," on this head are so much to 
the point in reference to the utter misconception of even 
many visitors to Japan in the matter of the chastity of the 
average Japanese women that I venture to transcribe 
them : " Has it not been repeated to him (the globe- 
trotter) that these people have no conception of virtue or 
of modesty? So he frequently treats the maids at the 
inn, the charming human humming-birds who wait upon 
him at the tea-house, and the Geisha summoned to 
entertain him, with a cavalier familiarity that would 
infallibly lead to his summary expulsion from any well- 
regulated hotel or public-house, or other places of public 
entertainment at home, did he dare to show such want of 
respect to a chambermaid or to one of the haughty fair 
ones serving at a bar. He means no harm in nine cases 



214 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

out of ten ; he has been told that Japanese girls don't 
mind what you say to them, and as to the tea-house girls, 
well, they are no better than they should be . . . but they 
are good little women, as capable of guarding their virtue 
as any in the world, and it saddens one to think how often 
they endure, from a feeling of consideration for the 
foreigner who does not know any better, they pityingly 
think, cavalier treatment they would not submit to from 
a Japanese." 

Having said so much I feel I am free to admit that a 
somewhat different standard of morality does obtain in 
Japan to that which exists, or is supposed to exist, among 
Occidental nations. After all, morality is to some extent 
a matter of convention, and a people must, I suggest, be 
judged rather by the way in which it lives up to its 
standard than by the standard itself, which among some 
Western nations is not always strictly observed. The 
whole subject of morality between the sexes is one upon 
which a portly volume might be written. The sexual 
relations have been affected by many circumstances, some 
of them entirely conventional and having little or nothing 
to do with morality as such, while poetry and romance and 
sentiment have been allowed to complicate, and still render 
difficult a dispassionate consideration of the whole matter. 
Macaulay in one of his essays has observed that " the 
moral principle of a woman is frequently more impaired 
by a single lapse from virtue than that of a man by twenty 
years of intrigue." He explains this seeming paradox by 
asserting that " a vice sanctioned by the general opinion 
is merely a vice, while a vice condemned by the general 
opinion produces a pernicious effect on the whole 
character." " One," says Macaulay, " is a local malady, 
the other is a constitutional taint." I have quoted the 



JAPANESE MORALITY 215 

famous historian in this connection because his observa- 
tions are, I think, illustrative of my contention, viz., that 
morality is largely a matter of convention, sanctioned or 
condemned by what Macaulay terms " the general 
opinion." 

I frankly admit that prostitution has never been 
regarded in Japan as it is, or is affected to be, in this and 
other European countries. In ancient days the public 
women of the capital and the large towns were as famous 
as in Athens of old, and were regarded as amongst the 
best educated and best mannered of their sex. The 
Japanese have ever looked upon prostitution as what is 
termed a necessary evil, and they have always sought to 
regulate and supervise it with a view of obviating those 
evils, terrible in their consequences, which are frequently 
the result of permitting it to go unchecked. And accord- 
ingly the Yoshiwara has long been a recognised institution 
in every considerable town in the country, the Yoshiwara 
being that particular portion of the town in which pros- 
titutes are alone permitted to reside. There is, so far as 
I know, no prostitution outside the Yoshiwara, and the 
inmates thereof are subject to a rigorous supervision and 
inspection, medical and otherwise, which has produced 
excellent results. The inmates of the Yoshiwara are not 
recruited as are the similar class in the West. Here the 
" unfortunate " usually plies her trade as a dernier ressort. 
In a moment of temptation she has "gone wrong," as the 
phrase goes, the fact becomes public, she is too often cold- 
shouldered and hustled even by her immediate relations, 
and her downward progress is swift and certain. Nor is 
there for her, except in rare cases, any chance of rehabilita- 
tion. * She is too hopeless to exclaim " Resurgam ! " and if 
in an optimistic frame of mind she did so purpose she 



216 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

would find the consummation difficult if not impossible. 
She is, in a word, on the way to irretrievable ruin and a 
shameful end, and she knows it. 

Such is, as I have said, not the case in Japan. The lot 
of the prostitute there has never been regarded with the 
loathing which it excites in this country. Houses of ill- 
fame were, and are still, recruited not from those whose 
previous lapse from virtue has rendered no other mode of 
livelihood possible than that from immorality, but by those 
whom stern necessity has driven to the step as a means 
either of supporting themselves or of assisting parents or 
their near relatives. Such a sacrifice — a terrible sacrifice, I 
admit — has in Japan never been regarded with horror, but 
as in a sense laudable. The finger of scorn must not be 
pointed at a woman who has voluntarily sacrificed what 
women hold most dear, not from lust or from the desire of 
leading a gay life or pampering or adorning the body, but 
perhaps to save father or kin from ruin or starvation. The 
Yoshiwara has, of course, other recruits, but in the main 
its inmates are not the victims of lust but of self-sacrifice. 
There is too often a whole tragedy in the story of a 
Japanese girl of this kind, and it is deplorable when the 
self-righteous European comes along and points the finger 
of scorn at her. I am aware that though not despised, as 
in this country, the lot of the inmate of the Yoshiwara is 
often, if not always, a horrible one. She is, as a rule, sold, 
or sells herself, for a lump sum of money to which amount 
is added the cost of her outfit, usually as much as the price 
paid to the woman or her relatives. Until this amount was 
worked off — and the accounts were, of course, not over 
accurately kept — the woman was to all intents the chattel 
of her master. This has, undoubtedly, for many centuries 
been the custom of the country. I am glad, however, to 



JAPANESE MORALITY 217 

be able to state that quite recently the highest court in 
Japan has decided that, whatever custom may have 
decreed, the law gives, and will give, no sanction to any 
such custom. A girl confined in the Yoshiwara was 
forcibly taken away therefrom. The owner of the house 
in which she resided, as her debt had not been liquidated, 
considered he had a lien upon her, and he invoked the aid 
of the law to assist him to assert what he considered to be 
his rights and retake possession of the girl. The case was 
strenuously fought and taken to several courts, with the 
result I have stated. This decision will probably have far- 
reaching effects and declaring, as it does, that the inmates 
of the Yoshiwara are not slaves or chattels, it is to be 
cordially welcomed. 

The assertion of Miss Bird, already referred to, that the 
manhood of Japan is enslaved and degraded by vice is 
one which I have no hesitation in describing as gross 
exaggeration. Vice, of course, there is in Japan, vice of 
various kinds and degrees, but the ordinary Japanese man 
is not, in my opinion, nearly so immoral as the average 
European. The chastity of the Japanese woman I place 
still higher. The fact, already stated, that the inmates of 
the Yoshiwara are not generally recruited from those who 
have lapsed from virtue might be urged in proof of this. 
Nor is the fact that prostitution is not in Japan regarded 
with the same loathing as in this country, in my opinion, 
to be taken as any evidence of an immoi^al tone. The 
ideas that obtain on the matter, in Japan at any rate, 
hold out the possibility of moral redemption for the 
inmates of the Yoshiwara, and as a matter of fact many 
women in Japan who, through the force of compulsion, 
have entered this place, frequently marry, and marry 
well, and subsequently live absolutely chaste lives. The 



218 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

standard of morality among the married women of Japan 
is, I may remark, high, and is rarely lowered. 

I hope I shall not shock my readers if I remark that 
I consider the stringent regulations that exist in Japan as 
to the supervision of the Yoshiwara in many respects 
admirable. It will probably surprise many persons to 
learn that the high state of organisation in regard to 
everything connected with the superintendence of these 
places, as also the development of lock hospitals, is 
largely due to the zeal and exertions of the late Dr. G. 
Birnie Hill, of the Royal Navy, who was for many years 
lent by the Admiralty to the Japanese Government for 
that purpose. Under his auspices a stringent system of 
medical supervision was organised, which has been attended 
with excellent results in the direction of stamping out 
and obviating diseases which, I may observe, are of foreign 
importation. I know that the existence of any system of 
medical inspection will, in the estimate of a large number 
of estimable men and women in this country, be regarded 
as proof positive of the immorality of the Japanese. 
" We mustn't recognise vice," is their contention. I am 
of opinion, on the contrary, that we should either recog- 
nise vice and restrict, restrain, and regulate it, or else 
make vice illegal, as the Puritans did, and fine or 
imprison both men and women addicted to it. I could 
understand either of these two courses, but I must con- 
fess that I altogether fail to fathom the state of mind of 
those persons who adopt neither opinion, but either assert 
or infer that in the name of religion, morality, modesty, 
and many other commendable things, we should permit 
our streets and thoroughfares to be infested by women 
plying their immoral trade with all the resultant con- 
sequences. 



<!f'^^^ U 




z < 






JAPANESE MORAIITY 219 

As I stated at the commencement of this chapter, a 
nation should be judged not only by its standard of 
morality but by the degree in which it lives up to or 
falls short of that standard. Judged by this, surely the 
fairest, the only fair, rule, Japan has every reason to be 
considered a moral country. Those shocking crimes 
which appear to be the outcome of either the aberra- 
tion or the inversion of the sexual instincts are almost 
unknown there. Nor do I consider that the public 
estimate of prostitution on the whole makes for im- 
morality. If an evil exist, and prostitution is un- 
doubtedly an evil, it is surely better to regulate it than 
to affect to be oblivious of it. The Japanese attitude 
towards prostitution at any rate leaves a door open 
for the woman who has, from whatever the reason, lapsed 
from the paths of virtue to return thereto. This appears 
to my mind to be a more satisfactory state of things than 
the continual harrying and worrying of prostitutes in the 
name of indignant virtue and the driving of them on the 
streets. The aspect of the great thoroughfares of London, 
especially by night, does not give the Oriental visitor 
thereto a high idea of English morality. It is, never- 
theless, an extraordinary fact that the Englishman or the 
Englishwoman who has mayhap lived in London most of 
his or her life, when he or she visits Japan in the course 
of, perhaps, " a round the world trip " in ninety days, 
and learns that there is in each Japanese town a Yoshi- 
wara, the inmates of which are subject to supervision and 
regulation, lifts up his or her hands in holy horror, returns 
home with a virtuous indignation, and has no hesitation 
in henceforth declaring, whether in speech or writing, that 
the Japanese are a grossly immoral people. 

The average Japanese is, very rightly in my opinion, 



220 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

indignant at the constant assertions of writers, well or 
ill-informed, that his country is essentially immoral. He 
is not only indignant but astounded. He has, if he has 
been to this country, seen here much that has not tended 
to impress him with the belief that the English people 
are themselves in a position to dogmatise on this vexed 
question of morality. He is, if he has visited the great 
cities and towns of Great Britain, by no means convinced 
that the action of Japan in establishing a Yoshiwara 
whose inmates are under proper supervision, medical and 
otherwise, is not better from every point of view, that of 
morality included, than turning loose women into the 
streets to accost every passer-by and place temptations 
in the way of youth. On the other hand, the Japanese 
who has not left his own country, but is of an observant 
nature and of a logical disposition, fails to comprehend 
why the European in Europe should dogmatise upon and 
affect to be disgusted with what he terms the immorality 
of the Japanese. The Japanese who has lived all his life 
in his own country has had ample opportunities for study- 
ing the Europeans resident there, and I fear he has not 
always been impressed by their high moral tone or their 
ultra-moral conduct. I might say much more upon that 
head, but I shall refrain. 

I conclude this chapter by reiterating the expression of 
my belief that the Japanese are, when rightly considered, 
a moral people. They have their own code of morals, and 
they act up to it. There are few nations of whom as 
much could be said. 



CHAPTER XIX 

JAPAN AND CHINA 

THE results of the war between Russia and Japan 
seem to have caused a large number of persons 
to work themselves into a state of incipient panic regard- 
ing what has been graphically, if not quite correctly, 
termed " the yellow peril." Japan, a nation of some 
47,000,000 people, had thrown down the gauntlet and 
totally defeated, both by land and sea, one of the great 
military Powers of the world. Japan had done all this 
as a result of some quarter of a century spent in 
modelling and training her Army and Navy on European 
lines, and adopting European arms of destruction. Of 
course, so argued the panic-mongers, China must be 
impressed by such an object-lesson — China, which has 
for so many years past been, and is still being, squeezed 
by the European Powers. The result of Japan's triumph 
would inevitably be, so we were asked to believe, that 
China would invite the former to organise the Chinese 
Army and Navy on Japanese lines. As the outcome 
thereof, a nation, not of forty, but of four hundred 
millions, would be trained to arms, and, if the Chinese 
raw material proved as good as the Japanese, a nation 
so powerful, if it proceeded West on conquest bent, 
would carry everything before it, and, unlike the last 

221 



222 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

Eastern invaders of Europe, the Turks, would be un- 
likely to be stopped on its onward course at Vienna. 
The German Emperor was amongst those who have 
voiced the cry of " the yellow peril." He does not, 
however, appear to have cast himself for the part of 
John Sobieski, with Berlin instead of Vienna as the 
decisive battle-ground. The persons who have so argued 
and have attempted to raise this silly cry of " the yellow 
peril," with a view of alarming Europe were, I think, 
merely the victims of an exuberant imagination. Their 
facts have no existence save in the realms of fancy, and 
as they reasoned from faulty premises on imperfect or 
erroneous information, their conclusions were, as might 
have been expected, not only inaccurate, but absurdly 
ludicrous. There is no " yellow peril," no prospect what- 
ever of it, either present or remote. 

The attitude of China, that vast though heterogeneous 
nation, is, since the close of the Russo-Japanese War, I 
admit, one of the most intense interest. Some persons 
may consider that in a book about Japan any other 
than a passing reference to China is out of place, and 
that, moreover, for me to deal with the attitude of China 
is to wander into political regions — a peripatetic pro- 
ceeding I deprecated in the Preface. I am of opinion, 
however, that it is impossible to thoroughly understand 
Japan and to appreciate the attitude of that country 
to the Western Powers without some remarks respect- 
ing the present and prospective relations of China and 
Japan. I also think that some consideration of this bogey 
of " the yellow peril " is not only out of place but indis- 
pensable in order to form a correct idea of the precise 
effect of recent events in the Far East and the possible 
outcome of them. 



JAPAN AND CHINA 223 

To any person who has closely studied Far Eastern 
problems the attitude of China since the close of the 
war between Japan and Russia is in no way surprising ; 
the forces that have long been steadily at work in that 
ancient Empire are now only attaining any degree of 
development. There is nothing, in my opinion, in the 
history of the world more dramatic than the way in which 
China has waited. That country is now, I believe, about 
to show that the waiting policy has been a sound one, and 
I am confident it will eventually prove triumphant. In 
1900 I expressed in print the opinion that not a single 
acre of Japanese soil would ever be permitted to be 
annexed by a foreign country ; I spoke of the policy 
of China for the Chinese, and remarked that that prin- 
ciple and policy had been repeated throughout the length 
and breadth of that vast Empire, and had been absorbed, 
as it were, into the very marrow of its people. It is in 
many respects interesting and curious, indeed almost 
comical, the manner in which that lesson has been 
driven home upon the Chinese. Russia has always been 
to them a powerful, persistent, and aggressive neighbour, 
a more formidable aggressor, indeed, because perhaps 
nearer, than any of the other Powers of Europe, whom I 
am sorry to say China has always looked upon very much 
as the substantial householder regards the burglar. Now 
that Japan has tried conclusions with Russia and has 
soundly thrashed the latter, great, slumbering China, 
proud, conservative, but supremely conscious of its latent 
resources, has been waking up. The Chinese, as a matter 
of fact, have very little veneration, respect, or esteem, for 
their Japanese neighbours. The former plume themselves 
on being the aristocrats of the East, and they reason, with 
some show of plausibility, that if the upstart Japanese 



224 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

have been able to so thoroughly rout the Russian forces 
the potential possibilities of China on the warpath are 
enormous. Every thoughtful student of the East has looked 
forward to what I may term the Japanisation of China as 
one of the inevitable results of the recent conflict in the 
Far East. To a certain extent the Japanisation of China 
has commenced, but at the same time one cannot be 
oblivious of the fact that the Chinese, with their tradi- 
tions and sense of self-importance, have not the slightest 
intention of slavishly following in the lead of those islanders 
whom they have always contemned, but mean to strike 
out a line for themselves. If what we believe to be 
civilisation is to be developed in China, it will be de- 
veloped by the Chinese themselves. If they are going 
to possess railways, telegraphs, telephones, and all the 
machinery of that material advancement which we call 
progress, and sometimes civilisation, the Chinese them- 
selves will be the importers and adapters and, in due 
course, the manufacturers thereof. 

Now that the great fight in the Far East is over, it 
certainly looks as if the Chinese at last realised the fact 
that development is an inevitable necessity. The master- 
spirits in the country have assuredly come to the conclusion, 
possibly with regret, that China can no longer remain in 
that delightful state of isolation which permitted every 
man in the Empire to spend the arc of his life, from his 
cradle to his grave, in a state of restful security. China is, 
in spite of herself, and certainly against the inclinations of 
the mass of the populace, being swept into the maelstrom 
of struggle now that the people, or rather their leaders, 
realise the position. Their attitude seems to me to be 
magnificent. If railways have to be made they will be 
made by the Chinese ; the concessions already granted, 



JAPAN AND CHINA 225 

must — this is the universal feeling — be bought back, even 
at a profit, from those who have acquired them, by the 
Chinese themselves. Not one new concession must, on 
any pretence whatever, ever again be granted to a foreigner. 
And if this Western civilisation is to be forced upon the 
Chinese, they intend to take it with all its attendant 
precautions. They are naturally a peaceful and unaggres- 
sive people, but they have grasped the fact that, as a 
strong man armed is in the best position to safeguard his 
house, however peaceful his individual proclivities may be, 
so too, if a nation is to defend its territory and its terri- 
torial wealth against spoliation, it must be armed for that 
purpose. 

For many years past Great Britain and France and 
other countries have been sending missionaries to China 
to expound to the Chinese people those sublime doctrines 
enunciated in the Sermon on the Mount. The Chinese 
have diagnosed, from the acts of the European Powers 
generally as well as from the actions of individual 
Europeans resident in China, the precise value to be 
attached to Christianity. For purely defensive purposes 
China will have almost immediately an Army which has 
been effectively described by the Times correspondent as 
being able to relieve the European Powers of any anxiety 
respecting the integrity of the Chinese Empire. People 
who have not visited the Far East, and who entirely derive 
their opinions and information in regard thereto from the 
newspapers, cannot possibly realise what effect the policy 
of the European Powers has had upon nations like China 
and Japan. A professedly Christian country like Great 
Britain going to war to force the sale of opium on a people 
who did not want to be debauched ; a power like Germany 
annexing Kiaochao as a golgotha for two murdered priests 
Q 



226 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

— proceedings such as these, and there have been many- 
such during the last forty or fifty years, have been taken 
seriously to heart by the Far Eastern races, whether in 
China or Japan. All the time the Occidental Powers, 
with a total lack of any sense of humour, have persisted in 
sending missionaries to these people to inculcate doctrines 
which are the very antitheses of the practices of European 
nations to these people whom it is sought to convert. It 
would be, in my opinion, nothing more than the outcome 
of eternal justice if this great big, old, sleepy China, which 
has been for so many years pricked and prodded and 
despoiled, were at length to take up arms for a great 
revenge. But China, if my prevision be correct, is going 
to do nothing of the kind. What she does mean to do is 
simply to keep China for the Chinese. She is not, as so 
many persons imagined and still imagine would be the 
case, going to be led as a powerful ox with a Japanese 
driver. Chinese students are in hundreds in Japan, learn- 
ing from that country all that the Japanese have acquired 
from Europe. Young, alert, capable men I found them 
without exception, sucking the brains of all that is best in 
Japan precisely as the Japanese have sucked the brains of 
all that is best in Europe for their own objects and to 
their own advantage. The immediate danger in China 
seems, so far as I can judge, to be that the anti-foreign 
feeling, which is undoubtedly intense especially in the 
south of the Empire, may come to a head any day and 
prematurely explode. The nincompoops and quidnuncs 
and newspaper men ravenous for copy who prate about a 
"yellow peril" may, in this latter fact, find some slight 
excuse for their blatant lucubrations. There is no real 
" yellow peril." Poor old China, which has been so long 
slumbering, is just rousing herself and making arrange- 



JAPAN AND CHINA 227 

ments for defence against the " white peril," materialistic 
civilisation, and misrepresented Christianity. 

The only " yellow peril " that I have been able to 
diagnose is the peril to the trade of Europe and the 
United States of America with China — a peril that appears 
to me to be imminent. That Japan intends to capture a 
large, indeed the largest, proportion of that trade I am 
firmly convinced. That she will succeed in effecting her 
object I have not the slightest doubt. At the present 
moment only about 5 per cent, of the imports into China 
are from Japan, the remainder being either from India, 
Europe, or America. Situated in close contiguity to 
China, having assimilated everything of importance not 
only in regard to the employment but the manufacture of 
machinery from Europe and the United States, possessing 
an industrious and intelligent population, Japan is quite 
obviously in a magnificent position to supply China, and 
supply her on much better terms, with the greater number 
of those commodities which China now has to import 
either from Europe or America. Japan, as I have said, 
intends to lay herself out to capture the major portion of 
this trade ; she is quite justified in doing so, and there is 
every reason to suppose that she will attain her object. 

That the Chinese students who have come to Japan and 
are flocking there month by month in increasing numbers, 
with a thirst for knowledge and a desire to assimilate all 
those Western influences and ideas and aids that have 
placed Japan in her present prominent position among the 
nations, when they, in due course, return to their own 
country, will of a certainty exercise a considerable influence 
therein, there can be no doubt. I also feel sure that 
Japan will render considerable assistance to China in 
regard to the remodelling and reorganisation of the 



228 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

Chinese Army and Navy. It is as certain as anything 
in this uncertain world that before very many years have 
elapsed the naval and military forces of China will undergo 
as great a transformation as those of Japan have under- 
gone. I believe, and I may say that this belief is shared 
by a number of naval and military men who have had 
practical opportunities for forming an opinion in the 
matter, that the raw material existing in China for the 
making of an effective and efficient Army and Navy is as 
good as that in Japan. We know that the late General 
Gordon, who had excellent opportunities for arriving at a 
sound conclusion in the matter, expressed himself in glow- 
ing terms in regard to the capabilities of the Chinaman as 
a soldier were he properly trained, organised, and officered. 
But that China, any more than Japan, entertains ambitious 
/ military projects I utterly disbelieve. The only aspiration 
' of China as regards Europe is — to be let alone. She fears, 
as she has every reason to fear, European aggression. She 
has had ample experience in the past that the flimsiest 
pretexts have been utilised for the purpose of filching her 
territory and exacting from her pecuniary fines under the 
name of indemnities. We know by a recent incident that 
the indemnity exacted from China by this country in 
respect of the Boxer rebellion was not really required for 
the ostensible purposes for which it was imposed. A large 
proportion of it lay at the Bank of England unappro- 
priated, and eventually was attached by a rapacious 
Chancellor of the Exchequer for the purpose of alleviating 
the burdens of the British taxpayer. China is determined 
to have no more incidents such as this in the future, and 
the Russo-Japanese War has given her occasion for serious 
thought in the matter as well as pointed an obvious moral. 
As a result of her cogitations, she has concluded that the 



JAPAN AND CHINA 229 

most effective means she can take in the direction of 
preserving the inviolability of her territory and preventing 
the exaction of periodical monetary tributes on the part of 
foreign Powers, is to establish a strong and efficient Army 
and Navy. As a matter of fact, I consider that in so 
determining China is acting not only in her own interests, 
but in the interests of the Great Powers of Europe. 

Not very many years ago that excellent sailor. Lord 
Charles Beresford, wrote a book entitled, somewhat too 
previously, " The Break-up of China." In selecting a title 
for his work Lord Charles without doubt voiced the 
opinion prevalent, not only in this country but in Europe, 
at the time he wrote it. The statesmen of nearly all the 
foreign Powers then seemed to have arrived at the con- 
clusion that the scramble for China was imminent and, 
utilising their experience from what took place when the 
scramble for Africa was effected twenty years ago, they 
began apportioning in advance the territory that ought to 
fall to their lot. In this matter, however, they were wofully 
mistaken ; the diplomatic physicians of the world may 
have diagnosed the symptoms quite accurately, but the 
patient surprised them all in regard to the course of the 
disease and her recuperative powers. There will be no 
" break-up " of China, and consequently we are not likely 
to witness any scramble for China. There has undoubtedly 
been an awakening of China, an awakening to her danger, 
to a sense of the extent to which her interests were 
imperilled. She wants, as I have said, to be severely left 
alone, and she is determined as far as possible to effect 
that consummation. The men of light and leading in 
China know perfectly well that they cannot now, even if 
they would, shut their country against European trade, 
European residents, European visitors. They are pre- 



230 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

pared to accept all these, but they will not have European 
interference. China is determined to work out her own 
destiny or salvation, call it which you will, and Japan is 
both willing and anxious to give her all possible assistance 
in that direction. The " yellow peril " bogey is, in my 
opinion, the silliest and most absurd cry that has ever 
been put forward by responsible persons. 



CHAPTER XX 

EUROPEANS IN JAPAN 

LIKE everything else in Japan, the status and position 
of the foreigner have been materially changed, in 
fact revolutionised, of recent years. When the country 
was, in the first instance, opened after its long period 
of isolation from the rest of the world, treaties were signed 
with Great Britain, the United States, France, and nearly 
all the other European Powers, whereby Japan agreed to 
open seven ports, subsequently known as "treaty ports," 
to foreign trade in which ports foreigners were to be 
permitted to reside and to carry on their business. 
Foreigners were at the same time — not by the wish of 
the Japanese Government, but as the outcome of the 
pressure put upon Japan by the various Powers — granted 
extra-territorial rights, that is to say they were exempt 
from the jurisdiction of the Japanese courts of law. This 
being the case foreign courts were constituted in Japan 
with jurisdiction over the subjects of the nation which 
set up the court. In these courts foreigners sued and were 
sued, and crimes committed by and against foreigners 
were tried. As regards Great Britain a Supreme Court 
for China and Japan was constituted whose headquarters 
were at Shanghai. There were Consular Courts and a very 

231 



232 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

involved kind of legal procedure generally established, 
mostly by Order in Council, which I need not consider 
in detail as it is now effete. There was, moreover, as 
regards Great Britain at any rate, a Bar practising in these 
courts, one member of which, Mr. F. V. Dickins, is justly 
remembered not for his forensic but for his literary efforts 
in the direction of depicting the inner life of the Japanese 
people. Into these foreign courts all the jargon, the quips 
and quibbles of English law were imported. These courts 
were, not unnaturally, an eyesore to the Japanese people. 
I may observe in passing that these extra-territorial courts 
still exist in China, and though the Supreme Court of 
China and Japan has been shorn of that part of its title 
which refers to Japan it remains, and is likely for some 
time longer to remain, the supreme legal tribunal of the 
English residents in the Chinese Empire. But besides 
extra-territorial courts there were extra-territorial post- 
offices. The English, the American, and, I think, the 
French Governments had post-offices in Japan which 
transacted postal duties of all kinds just as if they had 
been in London, New York, and Paris instead of in a 
foreign country. There may have been some excuse for 
this in the early days ; but these foreign post-offices 
remained until quite recently, depriving Japan of a portion 
of her revenue at a time when she had developed a 
magnificent postal service of her own. Over and above 
foreign courts and post-offices there were actually foreign 
municipal bodies. A certain amount of ground at the 
treaty ports was constituted a foreign settlement wherein 
the foreigners resided. Within these settlements a muni- 
cipal council was formed, which regulated everything 
therein. In these settlements the Japanese Government 
had no more power or authority than they had in 



EUROPEANS IN JAPAN 233 

Battersea. These settlements were in effect foreign 
territory on the Japanese soil, to use what seems to be a 
paradox. 

In exchange for the privilege of extra-territoriality 
granted to foreign residents in Japan, they were placed 
under restrictions. These included not being able to 
travel in the country outside a radius of 25 miles 
from the treaty ports unless provided with passports, 
which, I may remark, there was never any difficulty in 
obtaining, and not being permitted to live beyond the 
same radius. Foreigners engaged in trade in Japan had 
a great advantage in regard to a very low scale of customs 
duties, not more than 5 per cent, ad valorem^ but they were 
strictly prohibited from owning land. This system of 
extra-territoriality was extremely unpopular with the 
whole of the Japanese people, and a constant movement 
was in force in the country for the abrogation of what the 
Japanese considered an invidious distinction and in the 
direction of making every person who voluntarily took up 
residence in Japan answerable to the law of the land and 
under the jurisdiction of the Japanese courts. The revenue 
of the country was also, of course, injuriously effected by 
the post-office privileges already referred to as well as by 
the differential treatment of foreigners in regard to import 
duties. As was to be expected, any proposal for the 
abolition of extra-territorial rights and the revision of 
the regulations in regard to import duties met with a 
strenuous opposition from the foreign residents in Japan. 
On the other hand, it must be confessed that the Japanese 
people opposed any compromise in the direction of grant- 
ing foreigners facilities in return for the privileges that 
were asked to be waived. The proposal to allow 
foreigners to own land was vigorously inveighed against. 



234 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

So was a suggestion to establish mixed courts — the kind of 
compromise, by the way, which would probably have 
equally irritated foreigners and natives. It is, I think, 
satisfactory to be able to relate that in the end and after 
many years of agitation it was the British Government 
which took the initiative in the matter, and some ten or 
twelve years ago concluded a treaty with Japan wherein 
the privileges of English courts, European municipalities, 
and differential import duties were abandoned, while in 
return proprietary rights, except in regard to land, were 
granted to foreigners. 

There are, mayhap, some persons at the present day who 
are not aware of the fact that for a good many years after 
Japan was to a limited extent opened to foreigners several 
of the Powers retained an armed force in that country for 
the protection of foreign residents. Great Britain, for 
instance, had a large number of marines at Yokohama. 
The presence of these troops was extremely unpalatable 
to the Japanese authorities, but of course pleasing to the 
foreign residents, who opposed their withdrawal just as 
they opposed the abrogation of extra-territoriality. I am 
afraid the reason for the removal of this armed force as 
far as Great Britain was concerned was , economic rather 
than founded on any particular principle. Be that as it 
may, in 1873 Japan was successful in assuring the British 
Government that she was able and prepared to protect all 
foreigners residing in the country, and in that year the last 
foreign soldier was withdrawn from Japanese territory. 

Those who remember the agitation — and a very fierce 
and noisy and provocative agitation it was — in opposition 
to the revision of Japan's treaties with the foreign Powers 
with a view of getting rid of extra-territoriality will have 
a lively recollection of the pessimistic forebodings of the 



EUROPEANS IN JAPAN 235 

speakers and writers in reference to the future of the 
foreign community in that country were the exclusive 
privileges they then enjoyed taken away from them. The 
gentlemen who uttered these sentiments were no doubt 
sincerely convinced of their truth, but I am glad to be 
able to relate that time has shown them to have been 
false prophets. There may be, and no doubt are, foreigners 
in Japan who bemoan the good old days, but I am 
confident that the great mass of the foreign community 
now recognises the fact that the revision of the treaties 
and the withdrawal of extra-territorial privileges were 
inevitable and that no evil results have ensued in 
consequence. The Japanese courts of law have neither 
terrorised nor oppressed foreigners. They have, on the 
contrary, sought to hold the scales of justice evenly, and 
I believe that these courts now enjoy, as I am sure they 
deserve, the fullest confidence in their integrity and justice 
of every foreigner residing in the country. 

I have noticed a tendency on the part of writers on 
Japan to refer to the foreign community in that Empire as 
if it were a community bound together by some particular 
principle and working in unison for some definite object. 
Of course such a view is nonsensical. The foreign 
community in Japan, in which for the purpose of my 
remarks I do not include the Chinese, is one composed of 
a large number of nationalities which have very little in 
common, and amongst whom a good deal of rivalry 
prevails. It may have been that when the question 
of revising the treaties was being keenly agitated, self- 
interest, or what was deemed to be self-interest, occasioned 
a sort of fictitious unity among foreigners, but at the 
present time, so far as my observation has gone, there is 
very little real unity among the foreigners in Japan. The 



236 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

English, of course, predominate in numbers, and they have 
also the major portion of the trade in their hands. 
Whether such a condition of things will much longer 
obtain is a moot question. I am of opinion, as I have 
elsewhere indicated, that the trade of Japan will very 
largely pass into the hands of the Japanese themselves, 
and that the foreign element in Japan is accordingly not 
only unlikely to increase in number but is almost certain 
to diminish. 

In the early days when Japan was first opened to the 
Western world and English traders went there to push 
their commodities, we heard a good deal about the peculiar 
ethics of Japanese commercial morality. The European 
merchant either was, or affected to be, shocked at the 
loose commercial code of honour of those with whom he 
was brought into contact in Japan, and he expressed 
himself accordingly. However much or little ground 
there may have been for these accusations many years 
ago I am not in a position to judge. In forming any 
opinion in this matter, if that opinion is to be correct, 
it is, I think, essential to remember the conditions of 
society in Japan when it was first opened to European 
trade. In old Japan there were four recognised classes 
of society — the Samurai, the farmers, the artisans, and 
the merchants. The last two were somewhat looked 
down upon by the others. It is, accordingly, hardly to 
be wondered at that the condition of industry and com- 
merce was the least satisfactory feature in the initial 
stages of national development. Despised alike by the 
gentry and the peasantry, the traders were in a some- 
what sorry plight when Japan was thrown open. The 
low social status of the trading class in Japan was due 
to the feudal ideas which prevailed for so many centuries. 



EUROPEANS IN JAPAN 237 

The people were impressed with the productive power of 
the soil, and jumped at the conclusion that the merchant 
class must necessarily be immoral, since it purchased the 
produce of the soil at a low price and sold it at a profit. 
Very similar ideas have prevailed in countries other than 
Japan. It is not so very many years ago that in England 
a man of good family, much less a member of the aris- 
tocracy, going into trade was looked upon with no very 
favourable eyes. We know that the ideas that not so very 
many years ago obtained in this country in reference to 
this matter have entirely altered. Trade is now considered 
to furnish most excellent scope and opportunities for the 
energy and capital of all classes of the community. And 
the same ideas have been working in Japan. The mer- 
chant there is no longer a member of a despised class. 
The scions of the most ancient families in Japan, as in 
England, have embarked in trade and brought to their 
business those high ideals which they have derived from 
their ancestors. The criticisms of commercial morality in 
Japan which were so prevalent not very many years ago 
are now entirely obsolete. I fear, however, that the effect 
of them still to some extent remains, and that there are a 
large number of people in this country who even now 
believe that the Japanese, from a commercial point of 
view, are what is termed " tricky." I hope my remarks 
on this head may serve to disabuse the minds of some 
of those persons who still entertain these extremely 
erroneous ideas. 

I do not think that there is a very large amount of 
social intercourse between the Europeans in Japan and 
the Japanese themselves. The European in the East, or 
at any rate the Englishman in the East, so far as I have 
been able to judge, always appears to me to assume an air 



238 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

— it may be an unconscious air — of superiority to the 
inhabitants of the country in which he resides. That this 
is frequently extremely galling to them there can be no 
question. Any one who has conversed with the intelligent 
native of India must be aware of that fact. Whether the 
greatness of the Anglo-Saxon race be in some degree or in 
a large measure due to the belief that the Anglo-Saxon has 
in himself is a question I need not consider. But I think 
there can be no doubt of the fact that this sense of 
superiority, however much or little justification there may 
be for it, is a characteristic not likely to be appreciated 
by foreigners, and especially Orientals, and I think I am 
justified in remarking that the Japanese do not at all 
appreciate it. 

The European may impress the Oriental in one of 
several ways ; he has for the most part done so by his 
great military or naval prowess. That is the way in 
which Great Britain has impressed the natives of India. 
The English are in that country as a conquering race. 
They have practically never been defeated, and the respect 
which they have obtained is the respect that the weak 
have for the strong. In Japan such a state of things is 
no longer possible. The results of the Russian War have 
rendered it impossible for all time. An Oriental nation 
has met a European Power on the field and on the high 
seas, and soundly thrashed it. There is, however, another 
way in which the European might impress the Oriental. 
The former professes to have a purer religion and a higher 
code of morals. He has sought to impose his religion 
upon every race with which he has been brought into 
contact, and if he has not sought to impose his moral 
system, he has, at any rate, severely criticised that of 
the people with whom he has been brought into contact, 



EUROPEANS IN JAPAN 239 

and compared it with his own to their disadvantage. In 
Japan, where there is a large foreign community, the 
thinking, logical Japanese has had abundant opportunities 
for studying not only the principles of Western religions 
and Western morality, but also the practice of them by 
Western residents in his own land. 

The result has been to give him much food for reflection. 
He reads the criticisms of Europe upon the Yoshiwara and 
the Japanese attitude generally towards prostitution, while 
he has ample evidence of the fact that many of the patrons 
of the Yoshiwara are to be found among the European 
community in Japan. And so of religion. The various 
Christian denominations of the Western world aspire to 
convert Japan, and send missionaries there for that pur- 
pose. The Japanese gives them a fair field, and he has 
shown no aversion to investigate their dogmas. At the 
same time he sees that a large proportion, I might perhaps 
say the majority, of the European residents in Japan do 
not trouble to attend the Christian places of worship, while 
many of them make no disguise of their contempt for 
Christianity in general and the missionaries in particular. 
What conclusion, may I ask, can the logical, reasoning 
Japanese come to in these matters? 

There can be no doubt whatever that the foreign resi- 
dents in Japan have accomplished a great work in regard 
to the development of the country. The settlements 
established by them at the various treaty ports and the 
administration of those settlements as municipalities re- 
flected great credit upon all those concerned, and was a 
splendid object-lesson for the Japanese people. Great 
Britain, too, may, I think, be congratulated on the men 
she has selected to represent her at the Japanese Court. 
There is no man to whom both Great Britain and Japan 



240 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

are more indebted than the late Sir Harry Parkes. I 
cannot remember during how many years he was the 
British Minister at Tokio, but during the whole of his 
term of office he used his best endeavours in the direction 
of showing Japan the way she ought to go in the path of 
progress, and in rendering her all the assistance possible in 
that direction by procuring for her the very best assistance 
of every description. I strongly advise every person 
interested in Japan and its development to peruse the Life 
of Sir Harry Parkes, by Mr. F. V. Dickins and Mr. Stanley 
L. Poole. One interesting feature in Sir Harry Parkes's 
career I may record here, as I have had it on the authority 
of a gentleman conversant with the facts. Sir Harry was 
always a persona gratissima with the Japanese Govern- 
ment, and about the year 1877 he and the late Admiral 
Sir A. P. Ryder, then Commander-in-Chief on the China 
station, had a conversation respecting, in view of the 
aggressive policy of Russia in the Far East, obtaining a 
British coaling station much further north than Hong 
Kong. Admiral Ryder mentioned as an appropriate 
place the island of Tsu-shima, so famous in the recent 
war with Russia. Sir Harry Parkes promised to use his 
good offices with the Japanese Governrnent to obtain per- 
mission to occupy this island with a view of its ultimate 
cession to Great Britain. The permission was duly 
obtained, and Admiral Ryder thereupon cabled home to 
the Admiralty for the necessary permission to take over 
the island. His request was promptly vetoed, and Great 
Britain, accordingly, lost for ever the opportunity of obtain- 
ing an admirable coaling station and a splendid strategical 
position in the Far East. It is quite certain that Japan 
does not now regret the refusal of Great Britain to accept 
her too generous offer. 



EUKOPEANS IN JAPAN 241 

Europeans have been in Japan, and very much in 
evidence, during the past half-century or so, but I do 
not think that the residents in the country have exercised 
much influence upon Japan. During that period there 
have been enormous changes ; the whole life of the nation 
has, in fact, been revolutionised. But these changes have 
not been wrought, or indeed greatly affected, by the 
European residents in the country. The changes have 
emanated from Europe and America — not that portion of 
Europe and America which went to Japan for its own 
objects. I make, of course, a particular exception in 
regard to those naval and military and scientific men 
to whose exertions Japan owes so much of her advance- 
ment. But I do say of the ordinary trader or merchant 
that he has come to Japan, and left it without producing 
much effect, if any, on the development of the nation, or 
leaving behind him any influences of a useful nature. 

The European in Japan necessarily suggests some 
allusion to that large and annually increasing number of 
persons who visit the country. Their residence in Japan 
is usually of very limited duration, but, however short it 
may be, it is apparently quite long enough to enable them 
to form pronounced views upon many and varied matters 
connected with the country and the people. I have no 
hesitation in asserting that the erroneous opinions so 
prevalent in Europe in regard to Japan and the Japanese 
people are largely the outcome of the far too numerous 
books that have been written and published in reference to 
that country of recent years. " Ten Days in Japan " may 
be an alluring title for a book of travel, but quite evidently 
ten days are not sufficient to form an opinion and promul- 
gate it upon every phase of Japanese life, nor for the 
solution of many vexed problems. And yet, so far as my 



242 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

perusal of these books has gone, the shorter the period a 
man or woman has spent in Japan the more pronounced 
his or her views in regard to the country. The matter is 
hardly worth referring to were it not that these opinions, 
hastily arrived at and apparently as hurriedly rushed into 
print, have been accepted by some people as incontro- 
vertible facts. Another class of work that I think a 
reader should be warned against is the book of the man 
who has lived in Japan for a time and seen life only from 
a certain standpoint. The book of a bishop or a mis- 
sionary may be and often is of undoubted value in 
reference to his work and matters connected with his 
work, but when the writer gets outside this particular 
province and deals with subjects his knowledge of which 
must be at the best second-hand he is almost certain to 
perpetrate some flagrant mistakes, and occasionally indite 
the most egregious nonsense. I shall not particularly 
apply these remarks, but I think it necessary to utter this 
word of warning as the literary effusions of some very 
estimable men and women in regard to Japan have given 
occasion for many false misconceptions being entertained 
in regard to that country. 

The cry of " Japan for the Japanese ," has undoubtedly 
been heard in that land, and during the agitation over the 
revision of the treaties the foreign community appeared to 
be under the impression that the policy emphasised in that 
cry was the one which Japan desired to attain. For 
myself I do not believe it. I am positive that Japan to-day 
has no desire to exclude foreigners, or to revert into her 
old position of isolation. I believe, on the contrary, that 
she desires to welcome foreigners and to give them every 
facility within proper limits for pursuing their enterprises. 
At the same time she has no desire for the foreign 



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EUROPEANS IN JAPAN 243 

adventurer, prospector, or embryo company promoter. 
She does not wish, in fact, that Japan shall be exploited 
either in respect of minerals or any other purpose with the 
object of directly or indirectly pouring wealth into London 
or any other city. The enterprising gentlemen from 
England and other countries who have sought to obtain 
concessions of various kinds in Japan have failed in their 
object. Their efforts would probably only have brought 
discredit on the country, and could hardly by any pos- 
sibility have aided in its material advancement. There is 
only one word of advice that I should feel inclined to 
proffer the European in Japan, and that is to refrain less 
from exercising his caustic wit at the expense of the 
Japanese people. A nation which has passed through 
such drastic changes as have characterised Japan in the 
last two or three decades can no doubt furnish abundant 
opportunities for the jibes of the flippant, and the humour 
of those who consider they are endowed with a pretty wit. 
But the exercise of sardonic humour and an excessive 
sarcasm tends to promote ill-feeling and serves no useful 
purpose. The right spirit, in my opinion, for any man to 
regard Japan is as a nation struggling to obtain and 
assimilate all that is best in the world and aspiring to be 
in fact an eclectic power. It can at least be said of Japan 
that it is the only nation in the world's history which has 
entertained such aspirations and has sought to give effect 
to them. 



CHAPTER XXI 

A VISIT TO SOME BUDDHIST TEMPLES 

I WAS lying awake in my room in the Myako Hotel, 
the window looking out across the town below to- 
wards the eastern hills and framed with clusters of red 
maple. It was the clear stillness of a frosty morning 
before dawn, not motion enough in the autumn air to stir 
a ripe red maple leaf, and as I lay in bed suddenly the 
air itself seemed to heave a sigh of music mellow, soft, 
and yet full, gradual in its coming as in its going, all- 
pervading, strange and wonderful. Stillness again, and 
then it came again, or rather not so much came as was 
there, and then was not there ; for it seemed to come from 
no ^ hither, and to leave not even the footprint of an 
echo in the air behind. There was sanctity in the very 
sound itself. Its music was like vocal incense arising 
before the "awful rose of dawn," beyond those purple 
eastern hills. How unlike, I thought, the jar and clangour 
of our church bells in London on a Sunday morning 
rattling like a fire alarm, whose only possible religious 
suggestion is to tumble out of bed to escape the flames of 
hell. The musical summons of this bell was sufficient, 
however, to induce me to go out for a stroll through the 
temples in the morning twilight. 

All on the crest of the hill behind the hotel is a row of 

in 



A VISIT TO SOME BUDDHIST TEMPLES 245 

temples crowning the height. One mounts a flight of 
steps and then comes on avenues with rows of ancient 
trees on either side that make the avenues look like great 
aisles of which the immense trees are the columns sup- 
porting the deep, blue roof. Nothing is more striking 
about these temples than the delightful harmony between 
their natural surroundings and the buildings themselves. 
They blend so perfectly that one loses sight of the meet- 
ing between nature and art. From the steps onward all 
seems a harmonious part of the sanctified whole. Trees, 
creepers, and natural flowers peep in and almost entwine 
themselves with the marvellously painted or carved foliage 
of the temple itself The rich lichens and mosses of the 
tree-trunks vie in depth and beauty of colour with the 
inlaid traceries of the columns. 

Early as the hour was I was not alone in the first 
temple I came to. With tinkling steps of wooden shoes 
a little woman pattered up the stone stairs to one of the 
shrines, pulled the heavy cord of the small bell above her 
head to awaken the attention of the Deity, and then with 
joined hands encircled with beads and with bowed head 
whisperered her morning prayer. I just caught in soft, 
supplicatory accents the opening words, " Namu Amida 
Butsu " — " Hear me, compassionate Lord Buddha " — 
words that soon become familiar as one visits these 
temples ; the great refrain of these people's prayers 
when they pray before the image of " Him, honoured, 
wisest, best, most pitiful, whose lips comfort the world." 
And then, having finished her prayers, the little woman 
pattered back to her home in the town below, while others 
come and make their devotions likewise, all leaving the 
temple as if that placid, inscrutable image had whispered 
in the ear of each some word of comfort. 



246 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST . 

In the courtyard beyond the great Temple of Kiomidyu 
I came upon a wonderful bell. There was room for over a 
dozen men to stand inside the great bronze shell. It was 
hung just above the ground between plain timber uprights, 
and the mellow softness of tone was accounted for by the 
way in which it was struck. Instead of metal striking 
against metal a great tree-trunk is suspended horizontally 
outside ; this is swung backwards and forwards and then 
allowed to strike against the metal. Even when standing 
close to it there is nothing one would call noise, but a 
great, full, rich sound fills the air in a manner impossible to 
describe. I passed on to the latticed shrine dedicated to 
Kamnoshut No Kami, the goddess of lovers. As I waited 
there three little Japanese girls came up the steps. Each 
had a small piece of paper in her hand, and winding them 
up they deftly placed the papers in the lattice with the 
thumb and little finger of their hands. On these were 
written their petitions. One of them held a bunch of 
brilliant maple leaves in her hand, and judging from their 
faces — plain little faces all of them — it was easy to under- 
stand they wanted divine assistance in their love affairs. 
It was difficult to understand the goddess retaining any 
reputation for compassion if their prayers were not 
answered. After they had gone next came a dainty little 
geisha, a pretty girl, whose lover must have been a sad 
worry to her, judging by the look on her anxious little 
face, as she placed her petition between the bars. 

All through these temples it was obvious that the 
agnosticism, or indifference, or attitude of " politeness to- 
wards possibilities," which has apparently taken possession 
of the upper classes in Japan, possibly as the result of 
contact with the West, is in no way prevalent among the 
masses. In all the country parts that I visited and in the 



A VISIT TO SOME BUDDHIST TEMPLES 247 

large temples in the great cities there was everywhere 
evidence of faith as sincere and devout as can be found in 
the churches of the most Christian country in Europe. 
Unlike China, there was nowhere any sign of the temples 
falling into decay. Every temple in China looks like a 
neglected mausoleum decaying over the corpse of a dead 
religion, and the priests look like sextons of a neglected 
graveyard. But here in Kyoto two of the largest temples 
were undergoing elaborate repairs, and in Tokio an 
immense new temple is being erected in the heart of the 
city. In Kyoto at the Temple of Nishi Hong Wangi I was 
present at a great seven days' religious festival. From 
nine o'clock in the morning until six o'clock in the even- 
ing the temple was perpetually thronged with people. I 
visited it in the afternoon. In one large room a priest 
was preaching. His congregation was largely composed 
of country people from all the districts round, who had 
journeyed in with their wives and families. There had 
been an abundant harvest, it was over and stored, and the 
people had come to give thanks. A great part of the 
congregation were blue-clad peasants with white handker- 
chiefs around their heads. Many of them had brought 
their children with them. 

The priest preached sitting down, in a quiet conver- 
sational tone. From what a Japanese friend was kind 
enough to translate for me, there was nothing esoteric in 
the Buddhism he was teaching. It was simply plain 
lessons to the people, how to make good their simple lives 
interspersed with stories and anecdotes that occasionally 
amused his congregation. Following the crowd that kept 
streaming out from his hall towards the larger temple, 
I passed under a plain portico of huge wooden columns, 
severe and simple on the outside, but gorgeous with rich 



248 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

carvings of gold lacquer panels and hangings of richly 
wrought embroideries within. The entire floor of the 
great building was crowded, and the overflow of the con- 
gregation knelt upon the flags outside the door. With 
difficulty I picked my way inside. Two rows of priests in 
brilliantly coloured vestments were arranged on either 
side of the central figure of Buddha. Between them was 
the chief priest. Behind the altar screen was an invisible 
choir. In alternating numbers the solemn, supplicating 
chant was led by either row of priests. In a way it 
reminded one of the Gregorian chant one often hears in 
Catholic churches, but in this Buddhist chanting there 
was that curious Oriental strain of semi-tones that gave a 
strange and peculiar plaint to the chorus. 

Faint blue columns of incense were streaming slowly 
from bronze censors towards the carved roof, and diffusing 
a delightful aromatic odour throughout the building. 
The congregation was composed of all sorts and conditions 
of the population, although the majority were peasants ; 
there were a number of Japanese ladies who came 
accompanied by their maids, and here and there the 
brighter costume of a Geisha was to be seen among the 
crowd. 

The series of services lasted for seven days. This was 
the fifth. Beginning at six o'clock in the morning, it 
went on till six o'clock in the evening. It was just at its 
conclusion while I was there. Mingling with the chorus 
from the priests and the choir ran a low murmur from 
the crowd. The old country men and women said their 
prayers aloud, and the refrain of " Namu Amida Butsu " 
seemed perpetually in one's ears. As the conclusion of 
the service approached, the voices of the choir, the priests, 
and the congregation increased in strength and volume, 



A VISIT TO SOME BUDDHIST TEMPLES 249 

and ceased suddenly in a final chord of supplication. For 
a few moments there was stillness over the bowed heads 
of the congregation, and then the priests rose and the 
crowd began to stream down the great flight of steps. In 
the streets outside were rows of booths, where printed 
prayers and brightly embroidered triangular cloths, beads 
and images were being sold as mementoes of these services. 
The whole congregation, even old men and women, as 
they toddled down the steps at the base of which they 
put on their shoes, reminded one forcibly of a lot of 
children coming out from school. Laughing, chattering, 
and joking, there was a look of satisfaction and content- 
ment on all their faces, returning homewards, as if they 
felt that in reply to their prayer, " Namu Amida Butsu," 
the compassionate Lord Buddha, had listened to their 
prayer, and whispered in answer to the heart of each, 
"Comfort ye, my people." 



CHAPTER XXII 



THE AINOS 



A BOOK on Japan would be incomplete without some 
reference to the Ainos, that mysterious race found, 
and found only, in the northern island of Yesso. The 
Ainos have long been the puzzle of the ethnologist. 
Where the Ainos came from or to what other race they 
are akin are problems that have given occasion for much 
learned dissertation, but are still as far off solution as 
ever. Mr. Basil Chamberlain, all of whose writings upon 
Japan are replete with erudition and information, has 
observed that the Aino race deserves to be studied because 
" its domain once extended over the entire Japanese 
Archipelago," and also " because it is, so to speak, almost 
at its last gasp." Unfortunately the evidence for the latter 
fact is more conclusive than for the former. The Ainos 
are, it seems, to be no exception to that mysterious law of 
the survival of the fittest, which decrees that an inferior 
race, shall go down before the superior, and in due course 
become merely a name. I have called this a mysterious 
law because such disappearance is not necessarily the 
result of conquest or of ruthless destruction. When the 
inferior race is brought into contact with the superior it 
seems, by some mysterious process, to be infected with 

250' 



THE AINOS 251 

the elements of decay, to be impregnated with the germs 
of annihilation. And, accordingly, it comes about, in 
accordance with the dictates of the law I have referred to, 
that although a society has been founded in Japan very 
much on the lines of our Aborigines Protection Society, 
an Aino Preservation Society, the Ainos seem doomed 
to extinction at no far-distant date. 

Whether or not the Ainos once inhabited the whole of 
the Japanese islands and trekked north to get away from 
their conquerors, there can be no doubt of the fact that 
they are in almost every respect the very antithesis of the 
Japanese. The latter are a smooth-skinned race, the 
Ainos an extremely hairy one. The Japanese are essen- 
tially a clean, a scrupulously clean people, the Ainos just 
as essentially dirty. The long beards and general facial 
appearance of the latter are altogether in startling contrast 
to the physiognomy of the average Japanese. 

When ethnology fails to place a race, philology often 
steps in with more or less of success. The Aino language 
has been profoundly studied by many eminent philologists, 
but I do not think the results have tended to throw much, 
if any, light on the mystery as to the origin and racial 
affinities of the Ainos. In general structure the language 
is not unlike that of the Japanese, but this might be 
expected as the result of centuries of intercourse between 
the two people. 

The Ainos live almost solely by fishing and hunting. 
The Japanese laws, which have year by year been made 
more stringent, have somewhat interfered with the sport- 
ing proclivities of the people. Nets and fish traps are 
now forbidden, and fishing for the most part is effected by 
means of a spear or harpoon, either from the shore or 
from the somewhat primitive canoes used by the people. 



252 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

Poisoned arrows were once largely used for the purpose 
of capturing game, but they are now forbidden by law. 
Originally the modus operandi in hunting was to set a trap 
with one of these arrows placed in it, and drive the game 
on to the same. The head of the arrow was only loosely 
fastened, and broke, leaving the poison inside even if the 
animal managed to pull out the shaft. The bear is found 
in Yesso, and that animal has entered very largely into 
every phase of Aino life, somewhat circumscribed though 
this is. That animal was, or used to be, the objective point 
of Aino festivals, and seems, to some extent at any rate, 
to have had a part in their crude religious ideas. Bears, 
are, however, becoming rare in Yesso, and the Japanese 
Government, which is paternal even in regard to the fauna 
of the islands, has from time to time interfered with many 
venerable Aino customs. 

The religion of this interesting race is almost as mys- 
terious as everything else appertaining to it. The Ainos 
have no idols and no temples, and their religious rites are 
of a decidedly simple nature. They, however, seem to 
believe in an infinity of spirits inhabiting various and 
varied things, and their pantheon is seemingly a crowded 
one. I have said seemingly, because the beliefs of a people 
such as this are difficult to get at, and even when one has 
got at them almost impossible to comprehend. One writer 
has termed the religion of the AinoSj " a very primitive 
nature-worship," and their gods " invisible, formless con- 
ceptions." Such definitions do not convey much informa- 
tion. Nature-worship is a vague description and " invisible, 
formless conceptions " of the deity or deities are not 
confined to the Ainos. Possibly, like all peoples but 
little advanced or developed mentally, their religious 
conceptions are of the vaguest and have assumed no 



THE AINOS 253 

definite shape. A fear of the unknown, a blind groping 
in the dark are, mayhap, all that the Aino possesses in 
reference to the spiritual world. 

Although the religion of the Aino when living is 
somewhat incomprehensible his religious ceremonies in 
reference to the dead are of a somewhat elaborate nature. 
After life has become extinct the first proceeding is to 
light an enormous fire in the house. The corpse is then 
dressed in its best clothes and laid beside the fire, where 
are also placed dishes, a drinking-cup, and the implements 
of the chase. In the case of a woman, instead of these, 
her beads and other ornaments are laid alongside of her ; 
for both sexes a pipe and a tobacco-box, so greatly used 
during life, are considered essentials when dead. Cakes 
made of rice or millet and a cup of sake, are also put upon 
the floor. A kind of wake or funeral feast follows, at 
which the mourners throw some sake on the corpse as 
a libation to its departed spirit, break off pieces of the 
cake and bury it in the ashes. The body is covered 
with a mat slung upon a pole and carried to the grave, 
followed by the mourners, each of whom places some- 
thing in the grave, which, it is believed, will be carried 
to the next world with the spirit of the deceased person. 
At the conclusion of the ceremony the mourners wash 
their hands in water which has been brought for the 
purpose. This is then thrown on the grave and the 
vessel which conveyed it is broken in pieces and also 
thrown on the grave. The widow of the deceased shaves 
her head, while the man cuts his beard and hair, as out- 
ward symbols of grief Many of these ceremonies, it 
will be seen, are such as are more or less common to 
all primitive races. There is, indeed, a marked resem- 
blance between the habit of the Ainos in burying articles 



254 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

with the deceased for his use in the next world and 
that of the North American Indians. But I am not 
inclined to deduce any theory in reference to the origin 
of the Ainos from the existence of these customs. Man- 
kind, in every part of the world, seems to have evolved his 
religious beliefs in very much the same way. His con- 
ception of the hereafter appears to have proceeded on 
precisely similar lines. The higher his scale in civilisation 
the more spiritual and the less material his conception 
of the future. The lower his scale precisely the reverse 
is the fact. The savage, which of course the Aino really 
is, cannot imagine a future state where there is no eating 
and drinking and hunting, and he, accordingly, thinks 
it incumbent on him, in order to show his respect for the 
dead, to provide the corpse with those articles which he 
deems essential in that unknown world where, according 
to his conception, eating and drinking and hunting will 
be as prevalent as in this. 

The Ainos have a great respect for the graves of their 
dead, and Japanese legislation has taken the necessary 
steps to prevent any tampering therewith. Some years 
ago a few scientists from Europe went on an expedition 
from Hakodate with a view of obtaining information 
respecting the manners and customs of the Ainos. In 
the course of this expedition some graves were broken 
into and skulls and limbs extracted therefrom for the 
purpose of being taken to Europe for scientific research. 
This proceeding occasioned an angry outburst on the part 
of this usually placid people, and the Japanese authorities 
gave the necessary instructions to prevent the possibility 
of such an occurrence in future. I suppose the scientists, 
in the ardour of their enthusiasm, are hardly to be 
blamed. Science too frequently overlooks sentiment, 



THE AINOS 255 

which is, after all, one of the most potent forces in the 
world. 

The dwellings of the Japanese are supposed to have 
been evolved from those of the Ainos. Both build their 
houses roof first, making the framework and placing 
the supports with shorter pieces for rafters, all being tied 
together with a rope made of some kind of fibre. Poles, 
5 or 6 feet high at regular intervals are then placed in 
the ground, each pole having a fork at the top and short 
horizontal pieces from one to the other, the roof frame 
is then erected on and secured to the poles and sub- 
sequently thatched with straw. The floor is of earth, 
with the fireplace in the centre. As in Japanese houses, 
mats are used for sitting and sleeping purposes. The 
utensils of the Ainos are much more primitive than those 
in use by the Japanese people, and generally it may be 
remarked of the Ainos that their wants are few and 
that the people are content to live their own life in 
their own way and only desire to be severely left alone. 

The dress is very similar to that of the Japanese 
peasant. The men, however, wear at certain seasons 
thick rain-coats made of salmon skin, as also leggings 
made of a fibre peculiar to themselves, and high boots 
constructed of straw. I am sorry to have to relate that 
the Ainos have a fondness for sake, and there is a good 
deal of intoxication among them. The climate of the 
island of Yesso, as I have already remarked, is extremely 
severe in the winter-time, and there can be little doubt 
that many of the Ainos suffer extreme privations. There 
have been a few cases of intermarriage between the two 
races, but unions of this nature are not looked on with 
any favour by either. 

Attempts have been made by some of the missionaries 



256 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

in Japan to convert the Ainos to Christianity, but I fear 
the attempts made in this direction have been attended 
with a very scant measure of success. A people such 
as this possesses minds of childlike simplicity, and to 
endeavour to get it to comprehend the abstruse doctrines 
and dogmas of Christianity is an almost hopeless task. 
The climate of Yesso is such as to render it possible for 
missionary efforts to take place only at certain seasons 
of the year, and I do not think there has been, so far 
as my information goes, any systematic propaganda of 
Christianity among this interesting race. 

It is certainly a somewhat extraordinary fact that 
while the other islands of Japan have been rapidly 
assimilating and are being steadily influenced by the 
civilisation of Europe and America, the northern island 
appears to be, except possibly at Hakodate, in a state 
of complete isolation from all these influences and effects. 
Whether the Ainos have any conception of the influences 
at work in and the progress being made by the Empire 
of which they are subjects, I do not know, but to me 
it is both interesting and curious to regard this ancient 
and decaying race, either indifferent to or ignorant of 
all the bustle and hurry and worry of modern civilisa- 
tion so close to them and yet so far removed from their 
childlike minds and ideas. 

The question may be asked. How comes it that a highly 
civilised people such as the Japanese have been for many 
hundreds of years, have exercised practically no influence 
upon this subject race inhabiting a portion of their 
territory? A nation such as Japan, with a literature 
and an art of its own, with two highly developed religious 
systems, and with many of those other characteristics 
which are included in the term civilisation? How is it 



THE AINOS 257 

that neither art nor Hterature nor religion, nor any 
other characteristic of civilisation has, in the slightest 
degree, influenced this aboriginal race? Indeed, if the 
theories of ethnologists in regard to the Ainos be correct, 
and we are to judge by the ancient remains that have 
been found throughout Japan, the Ainos, when they were 
in undisputed possession of the Japanese Archipelago, 
were in a much more advanced condition of civilisation 
than they are to-day. The questions that I have put 
afford food for reflection, but they are difficult, if not 
impossible, to answer. I am certain, however, that the 
Japanese Government desires to, if possible, preserve the 
Aino race from extinction, and that it aspires to give this 
ancient people all the advantages of education and 
civilisation generally. Unfortunately the Ainos them- 
selves are the obstacle to the carrying into effect of this 
project. They desire to live their own life in their own 
way. They have not only no wish to be, but they resent 
any effort to make them, either educated or civilised. 
They are what some people would term children of 
nature, out of place decidedly in a modern go-ahead 
eclectic Power like Japan, but an interesting survival of 
the past, and likewise an interesting reminder that the 
highly civilised races of to-day have, in their time, been 
evolved from very similar children of nature. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

JAPAN AS IT IS TO-DAY 

" T N the Japan of to-day the world has before it a unique 
L example of an Eastern people displaying the power 
to assimilate and to adopt the civilisation of the West, 
while preserving its own national dignity unimpaired," 
aptly remarks a modern writer. It is, indeed, in its 
powers of assimilation and adaptation that Japan, I 
think, stands unique among not only the nations of the 
world at the present time, but amongst the nations of 
whom we have any historical record. In one of his 
books on Japan — books which I may, in passing, remark 
give a more vivid insight into the life of the Japanese 
people than the works of any other writer — Mr. Lafcadio 
Hearn remarks that the so-called adoption of Western 
civilisation within a term of comparatively few years 
cannot mean the addition to the Japanese brain of any 
organs or powers previously absent from her, nor any 
sudden change in the mental or moral character of the 
race. Changes of that kind cannot be made in a genera- 
tion. The Europeanising of Japan, Mr. Hearn in fact 
suggests, means nothing more than the rearrangement 
of a part of the pre-existing machinery of thought, while 
the mental readjustments effected by taking on Western 

258 

il 



JAPAN AS IT IS TO-DAY 259 

civilisation, or what passes for it, have given good results 
only along directions in which the Japanese people have 
always shown special capacity. There has, in a word, 
he asserts, been no transformation — nothing more than 
the turning of old abilities into new and larger channels. 
Indeed the tendency of the people of Japan, when dis- 
passionately investigated, will be seen to have been always 
moving in the same direction. A slight retrospect will, 
I think, clearly prove the truth of this assertion. 

It is now about fifty years since Japan was first 
awakened, perhaps rudely awakened, from her slumber of 
two and a half centuries. When the European Powers 
and the United States of America knocked, perhaps some- 
what rudely, at her door, it turned slowly on its hinges 
and creaked owing to the rust of many long years. How 
came it that a country which had imported its art, litera- 
ture, religion, and civilisation, a country which until 1868 
had a mediaeval feudalism for its social basis, a country 
which until then was notorious for the practice of hara-kiri 
and the fierceness of its two-sworded Samurai should so 
suddenly take on Western attributes and become a seat of 
liberty and the exponent of Western civilisation in the 
Far East ? All this is to some persons a rather perplexing 
problem. But the reasons are not, I think, far to seek. If 
we go back many centuries we shall find that Japan, though 
always tenacious of her national characteristics, never 
evinced any indisposition to mingle with or adopt what 
was good in other races. The national character for many 
hundreds of years has always displayed what I may term 
the germs of liberalism, and has not been influenced by 
narrow and petty national ideals concerning the customs, 
religion, art, or literature of other countries. As against 
this statement may be urged the action of Japan in ex- 



260 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

pelling the Portuguese missionaries, destroying thoroughly 
Christianity, both buildings and converts, and effectually 
and effectively shutting the country against all intercourse 
with Europe and America for over two centuries. The 
answer of the Japanese of to-day to this question is simple 
enough. They point out that, although the object of 
St. Francis Xavier and his missionaries was essentially 
spiritual, viz., to convert Japan to Christianity, that of 
many of the foreigners who accompanied or succeeded 
him was not in any sense spiritual, but on the contrary 
was grossly and wickedly material. Accordingly Japan, 
having rightly or wrongly concluded that not only her 
civilisation but her national life, her independent existence, 
were menaced by the presence and the increasing number 
of these foreigners, she decided, on the principle that 
desperate diseases require desperate remedies, to expel 
them and to effectually seal her country against any 
possibility of future foreign invasions. I am not, I may 
remark, defending her action in the matter ; I am only 
putting forward the views of Japanese men of light and 
leading of to-day in regard thereto. 

When, many centuries ago, the Koreans brought to 
Japan the religion, laws, literature, and ^rt of China, these 
were adopted and assimilated. Both Buddhism and Con- 
fucianism existed side by side in the country with the old 
Shinto religion. And, accordingly, during the many 
centuries which have elapsed since the religion of China 
and the ethical doctrines of her great teacher were intro- 
duced into Japan, there has never been a violent conflict 
between them and the ancient religion of the country. 
Had the Portuguese invaders confined themselves to a 
religious propaganda only, the Christian converts they 
made would not have been interfered with and the 



JAPAN AS IT IS TO-DAY 261 

Christian religion, strong and vigorous, would have existed 
uninterruptedly in Japan until to-day side by side with 
Buddhism and Shintoism. When St. Francis Xavier 
came to Japan Buddhism was the prevailing religion, and 
it undoubtedly had, as it still has, a great hold upon the 
people. But the preaching of the intrepid Jesuit and the 
missionaries he brought with him had an enormous success. 
The Christian religion was embraced by representatives of 
every class. In the year 1550 St. Francis, writing to Goa, 
placed on record for all time his opinion of the Japanese. 
" The nation," writes he, " with which we have to deal here 
surpasses in goodness any of the nations ever discovered. 
They are of a kindly disposition, wonderfully desirous of 
honour, which is placed above everything else. They 
listen with great avidity to discourse about God and divine 
things. In the native place of Paul they received us very 
kindly, the Governor, the chief citizens, and indeed the 
whole populace. Give thanks to God therefore that a very 
wide and promising field is open to you for your well- 
roused piety to spend its energies in." It certainly was a 
remarkable fact that a nation which had for so many 
centuries been under the influences of Buddhism should 
have welcomed these Portuguese missionaries. But it 
must be remembered that Japan had not that prejudice 
against foreigners which is very often the outcome of 
foreign conquest and foreign oppression. No foreign 
Power had ever conquered or indeed set its foot in the 
land. Both China and Korea had made various attempts 
on the independence of Japan, but unsuccessfully. Japan 
had never had to endure any humiliation at the hands of 
foreign invaders, consequently her nationalism had no 
narrow, selfish meaning, and accordingly she saw no reason 
for putting any obstacle in the way of St. Francis Xavier 



262 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

and his followers until she concluded, however much or 
little reason there may have been for her conclusions, that 
the incoming of these foreigners in some measure menaced 
her national existence. Before she arrived at that con- 
clusion she was apparently prepared to welcome all that 
was good in the ethical teaching of the Portuguese mission- 
aries, and, if a section of her population desired to embrace 
a religion to whose ethical teaching she had no objection ; 
there was no reason, in her opinion, why that religion 
should not exist side by side with those more ancient 
religions which had lived amicably together during many 
centuries. 

For nearly two hundred and fifty years Japan resolved 
to remain in a state of isolation. Then, as I have said, 
European Powers and the great Republic of the West came 
knocking and knocking loudly at her doors, and as a result 
thereof her thinking men came to realise that in a state of 
isolation a continued civilised existence is impossible. 
Accordingly Japan, tentatively at first, opened certain por- 
tions of her country to European intercourse, and as an 
inevitable consequence thereof found it necessary to adopt 
European ideas — and European armaments. The country 
had kept out the aggressor for some two thousand years 
or thereabouts, and Japan clearly saw that if the aggressor 
was to be kept out in the future, the near future, she would 
probably have to fight to maintain her national existence. 
The war with China was the outcome of the feeling that 
Korea under the suzerainty of China was a constant 
menace to not only the prosperity but the existence of the 
Empire. The same feeling undoubtedly led to the war 
with Russia, as Japan considered, and rightly in my 
opinion, that the possession of Korea by Russia meant the 
loss of national independence. That war was not as so 



JAPAN AS IT IS TO-DAY 263 

many wars have been, the result of a racial hatred, the 
outcome of a spirit of revenge, or waged for aggressive 
designs. It was forced upon Japan, and was in every sense 
purely defensive. Japan waged it confident in her own 
strength from the fact that in the two thousand years of 
her history she had, in all the conflicts in which she had 
engaged, kept in view the one ideal — the conservation of 
the national existence, an ideal which she has consistently 
realised. 

The position of Japan at the present moment is not only 
extremely interesting but extraordinary in a degree. She 
is the cynosure for the eyes of the civilised world, and for 
some years she has been subjected at the hands of experts 
and amateurs of all descriptions to the most minute inves- 
tigation. Every phase of her national life has been rigidly 
scrutinised and exhaustively written about. The national 
character and characteristics have undergone the most 
intricate psychological examination, and if the world does 
not now know the real Japan it is certainly not from lack 
of material, literary material, whereon to form a judgment. 
Indeed the attention Japan has received has been sufficient 
to turn the head of any people. I am not sure that 
this large output of literature on matters Japanese has 
effected very much in the direction of enabling a sound 
judgment to be formed regarding the country and the 
people. Many writer-s who have dissertated upon Japan 
during the past couple of decades seem to have imagined 
that they had discovered it, and their impressions have 
been penned from that standpoint. 

There used some years ago to be an advertisement of a 
" Popular Educator " in which a youth with a curly head 
of hair and a face of delightful innocence was depicted. 
Underneath the portrait the inquiry was printed, " What 



264- THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

will he become?" And there was then given an illustrated 
alternative as to the appearance of this innocent youth at 
different ages in his career according to the path he trod 
in life. One alternative eventuated in the final evolution 
of an ancient and, from his appearance, very palpable 
villain, the other of a benevolent-looking old gentleman 
who quite evidently only lived to do good. It seems to 
me that a large number of persons in various parts of the 
world are to-day, as they have been for some time past, 
asking the question in reference to Japan, " What will she 
become ? " It is without doubt a highly interesting inquiry, 
but the answer to it, so far as my knowledge goes, is not 
like the advertisement I have referred to, one of two 
courses — the one leading to perdition, the other to pros- 
perity. On the contrary, the answers seem to be as 
numerous and varied as the answerers, and most of the 
answers would appear to have been arrived at simply and 
merely by the false premises and very often the entirely 
erroneous " facts " of the inquirers. 

A favourite and fallacious method of dealing with Japan 
is that of regarding it as an Oriental nation, essentially 
Oriental with a thin veneer of Occidentalism. People who 
so reason, or occasionally do not reason at all but confine 
themselves to mere assertions, suggest that the difference 
between the Oriental and the Occidental is such that not 
a few years of perfunctory contact but centuries of time 
are necessary to bring about a real transmogrification. 
Persons who so think point not only to the difference in 
everything material in respect of East and West, but to a 
radical difference in psychology, an entire distinction in 
the mental outlook of each. They accordingly conclude 
that the differences so evident on all sides are not mere 
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JAPAN AS IT IS TO-DAY 265 

Japanese, they in effect say, and beneath his veneer of 
civilisation you will find the barbarian, barbarism and 
Orientalism being with these persons synonymous terms. 
And if any incredulity in the matter be expressed they 
will triumphantly point to the recurrence of hara-kiri 
among the soldiers and sailors in the late war. A well- 
known writer on racial psychology has expressed himself 
dogmatically on this very point. I will quote two or three 
of his pronouncements in the matter. 

" Each race possesses a constitution as unvarying as its 
anatomical constitution. There seems to be no doubt that 
the former corresponds to a certain special structure of 
the brain. 

" A negro or a Japanese may easily take a university 
degree or become a lawyer ; the sort of varnish he thus 
acquires is, however, quite superficial, and has no influence 
on his mental constitution. . . . What no education can 
give him because they are created by heredity alone, are 
the forms of thought, the logic, and, above all, the character 
of the Western man. 

" Cross-breeding constitutes the only infallible means at 
our disposal of transforming in a fundamental manner 
the character of a people, heredity being the only force 
powerful enough to contend with heredity. Cross-breed- 
ing allows of the creation of a new race, possessing new 
physical and psychological characteristics." 

Now, whether these views be correct in the main or 
partially correct as regards other races, I have no hesi- 
tation in describing them as inaccurate to a degree in 
reference to the Japanese. Not peculiar brain formation, 
but social evolution, environment, education are responsible 
for the traits which distinguish the Japanese from other 
Eastern nations. To assert, as do some psychological 



266 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

experts, that the mental constitution of races is as dis- 
tinct and unchangeable as their physiological or anatomi- 
cal characteristics is, to my mind, a fact not borne out by 
the history of the world. Physiological or anatomical 
distinctions are apparent, and can be classified ; mental 
idiosyncrasies do not lend themselves to cataloguing. It 
is, I know, possible to draw up at any particular period a 
list of what I may term the idiosyncrasies of any race at 
that period. A writer in a London newspaper some little 
time back attempted to do so in reference to Oriental 
races generally. He enumerated the degraded position 
of women, the licentiousness of the men, the recognition 
and prevalence of prostitution, the non-desire of the 
youth for play, contempt for Western civilisation, and 
general hatred of foreigners. Admitting these charges 
to be correct, the characteristics detailed are, I may 
point out, merely ephemeral incidents. A contempt for 
Western civilisation and hatred of the foreigner, for 
example, which was certainly at one time pronounced 
in Japan, are rapidly passing away. The position of 
women in that country has also greatly improved, just 
as it has improved in Europe, while as regards prostitu- 
tion and licentiousness Europe has, in my opinion, no 
need to throw stones. 

There are undoubtedly a large number of persons who 
are convinced, or have been convinced, by the arguments 
of others, that the progress of Japan is a mere mushroom 
growth which cannot last. A few years ago one of the 
leading English papers in Japan attempted, to some 
extent, to voice this opinion in an article striking the note 
of warning for the benefit of the West against putting too 
much faith in those writers who had intimately studied 
Japan from within, and whose works were in general 



JAPAJN AS IT IS TO-DAY 267 

appreciation not only for their literary style, but for the 
vivid insight they gave into everything respecting the 
country. Quoth the journal in question : — 

"In the case of such writers as Sir Edwin Arnold and 
Mr. Lafcadio liearn, it is quite apparent that the logical 
faculty is in abeyance. Imagination reigns supreme. As 
poetic flights or outbursts the works of these authors on 
Japan are delightful reading. But no one who has studied 
the Japanese in a deeper manner, by more intimate daily 
intercourse with all classes of the people than either of 
these writers pretends to have had, can possibly regard a 
large part of their description as anything more than 
pleasing fancy. Both have given rein to the poetic 
fancy, and thus have, from a purely literary point of 
view, scored a success granted to few. . . . But as ex- 
ponents of Japanese life and thought they are unreliable. 
. . . They have given form and beauty to much that never 
existed, except in vague outline or in undeveloped germs 
in the Japanese mind. In doing this they have unavoid- 
ably been guilty of misrepresentation. . . . The Japanese 
nation of Arnold and Hearn is not the nation we have 
known for a quarter of a century, but a purely ideal one 
manufactured out of the author's brains. It is high time 
that this was pointed out. For while such works please a 
certain section of the English public, they do a great deal 
of harm among a section of the Japanese public, as could 
be easily shown in detail did space allow." 

I quite admit the fact that many Japanese themselves 
are quite convinced that there is a great gulf fixed between 
the ideas and the philosophy of Europe and those of the 
East, their own country included. In a book dealing par- 
ticularly with the art of Japan, written in English by a 
Japanese, he attempts to emphasise this matter. He 



268 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

remarks : " Asia is one. The Himalayas divide only to 
accentuate two mighty civilisations — the Chinese, with 
its communism of Confucius, and the Indian, with its 
individualism of the Vedas. But not even the snowy 
barriers can interrupt for one moment that broad 
expanse of love for the Ultimate and Universal which 
is the common-thought inheritance of every Asiatic race, 
enabling them to produce all the great religions of the 
world, and distinguishing them from those maritime 
people of the Mediterranean and the Baltic who loved 
to dwell on the particular, and to search out the means 
not the end of life." Indeed, the writer of this book appears 
to be in a condition of transcendentalism in reference to the 
East. In another portion of it he waxes eloquent in regard 
to what he terms the glory of Asia, in language which I 
will briefly quote. He remarks : — 

" But the glory of Asia is something more positive 
than these. It lies in that vibration of peace that beats 
in every heart ; that harmony which brings together 
emperor and peasant ; that sublime intuition of oneness 
which commands all sympathy, all courtesy, to be its 
fruits, making Takakura, Emperor of Japan, remove his 
sleeping robes on a winter night because the frost lay 
cold on the hearths of his poor ; or Taiso of Tang forego 
food because his people were feeling the pinch of famine ; 
... it lies in that worship of feeling which casts around 
poverty the halo of greatness, impresses his stern sim- 
plicity of apparel on the Indian prince, and sets up in 
China a throne whose imperial occupant — alone amongst 
the great secular rulers of the world— never wears a 
sword." 

It were unkind to criticise eloquence of this description 
too seriously. The fact, if it be a fact, that the Emperor 



JAPAN AS IT IS TO-DAY 269 

of China never wears a sword is in one sense interesting 
but it proves nothing. It is well to get down from 
eloquence of this kind to concrete facts, to come back 
to the point whence we started, viz.. What will Japan 
become ? What is her present condition ? Any one who 
compares the Japan of to-day with the Japan of, say, 
thirty or forty years ago will, I think, impatiently sweep 
aside some of the absurd theories to which I have 
referred, psychological and otherwise. The unprejudiced 
man, letting his mind indulge in retrospect, and comparing 
that retrospective view with the present actuality, will, I 
believe, have no difficulty in determining that though 
Japan is and must remain an Oriental nation, what she 
has acquired of recent years is neither veneer or varnish, 
but has been assimilated into the very system of the 
people. Very probably Japan will never become 
thoroughly Occidentalised. There are many of us who 
hope she never may. I believe, however, that in adopt- 
ing many Occidental customs and habits she will adapt 
and modify them to her own needs, and in due course 
evolve a race neither distinctly Occidental nor Oriental 
while retaining many of her past customs and her ancient 
characteristics. She will, in a word, be as far as possible 
an eclectic nation, and it is, so far as I know, the first time 
in the history of the world that an attempt has been made 
to develop such. 

There are, I know, many people in Europe as well as in 
Japan who feel and express some apprehension in regard 
to what they term young Japan. This term, like many 
other terms, has never been accurately defined, but I take 
it to mean that portion of the country consisting of the 
young or younger men who have been educated accord- 
ing to Western ideas, have acquired Western modes of 



270 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

thought, and have developed — I do not use the word in 
an opprobious sense — a bumptiousness. It is assumed, 
on what grounds I know not, that this section — it must 
after all be a small section — of the population of the 
country has aspirations to make things " hum," if I may 
use an expressive bit of American slang. Young Japan, 
we are led to believe, is intensely ambitious and extremely 
cocksure. It cannot and will not go slow ; on the con- 
trary, it is in a fearful hurry, and is in reference to every 
matter political, commercial, religious, a hustler. It has 
no doubts upon any subject, and no difficulty in regard to 
making up its mind on any matter. This is what we hear 
and read. How much of it all is true I know not. I am 
very largely of opinion that this representation of young 
Japan is altogether a caricature. Youth we know in 
every clime is impulsive and impetuous. There is no 
need to go to Japan to convince ourselves of that fact. 
But youth, if it have these defects, also possesses enthu- 
siasm, and I should be inclined to describe that as one of 
the most pleasing characteristics of the youth of Japan. 
After all, time will cure Young Japan of some of its 
defects. Young Japan will grow old, and if it loses its 
enthusiasm it will gain experience. I not only have no 
fear of these vivacious young men who love their country 
and are proud of it. I regard them not as a danger, but 
as a pleasing feature in the progress of Japan, and a potent 
factor in its future prosperity. 

The writers and critics to whom I have referred in this 
chapter seem to be oblivious of the fact that progress is 
the law of nature. It has nothing to do with either 
climate or race. I admit that it may be affected by 
environment or other causes of a temporary nature. The 
Occidental visiting the East sees things that are strange 



JAPAN AS IT IS TO-DAY 271 

to him — a people, the colour of whose skin and the 
contour of whose features are different to his own ; cos- 
tume, style of architecture, and many other matters 
entirely dissimilar to what he has viewed in his own 
country. He accordingly jumps to the absolutely 
erroneous conclusion that these people are uncivilised, 
and that their lack of civilisation is due to some mental 
warp or some defect in either the structure or the size 
of their brain. Of course such a conception is entirely 
erroneous, and yet it is marvellous to what an extent it 
prevails. These people are for all practical purposes the 
same as himself, except that they have been affected by 
various matters and circumstances that I have called 
ephemeral. What a nation, like an individual, needs is 
the formation of a distinct character. Now, the character 
of a nation depends, in my opinion, on the high or low 
estimate it has formed as to the meaning and purpose of 
life, and also the extent to which it adheres to the 
unwritten moral law, which is, after all, something 
superior to, because higher than, mere legal enactments. 
I confess that as I wander about this marvellous country 
of Japan, as I mingle with its common people and see 
them in various phases of their lives I say to myself, as 
St. Francis Xavier said of them more than three hundred 
years ago, " This nation is the delight of my soul." The 
critic, the hypercritic, is everywhere. He suspects every- 
body and everything. He can find occult motives and 
psychological reasons for everything. I confess I am a 
trifle tired of the critic, especially the psychological critic, 
in reference to Japan. 1 view the people there as they 
are to-day, and I have satisfied myself that we can see at 
work in Japan the formation of a nation with a character. 
I care not to investigate the mental processes at work, or 



272 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

the difference between the brain of the Japanese and the 
brain of the European. I do see this, however, that the 
leaders of the people, the educated and cultured classes of 
the land, are intent on cutting out of the national character 
anything which is indefensible, or has been found unser- 
viceable, and equally intent on adopting and adapting 
from any and every nation such qualities as it is con- 
sidered would the better enable Japan to advance on 
the paths of progress and freedom, illuminating her way 
as a nation and as a people by a shining illustration of all 
that is best in the world, having sloughed off voluntarily 
and readily every characteristic, however ancient, which 
reason and justice and experience had shown to be 
unworthy of a power aspiring to stand out prominently 
before the world. 

In Sir Rutherford Alcock's work on Japan, "The Capital 
of the Tycoon," published some forty-four years ago, a 
work which, as I have elsewhere said, is of undoubted 
value though somewhat marred by the prejudices of the 
author, he attempted a forecast of the future of the 
country, but, like so many prophets, his vaticinations 
have proved highly inaccurate. " Japan," he remarked, 
" is on the great highway of nations, the coveted of Russia, 
the most absorbing, if not the most aggressive of all the 
Powers ; and a perpetual temptation alike to merchant 
and to missionary, who, each in different directions, find- 
ing the feudalism and spirit of isolation barriers to their 
path, will not cease to batter them in breach, or under- 
mine them to their downfall. Such seems to be the prob- 
able fate of Japan, and its consummation is little more 
than a question of time. When all is accomplished, 
whether the civilising process will make them as a people 
wiser, better, or happier, is a problem of more doubtful 



JAPAN AS IT IS TO-DAY 273 

solution. One thing is quite certain, that the obstructive 
principle which tends to the rejection of all Western inno- 
vations and proselytism as abominations, is much too 
active and vigorous in the Japanese mind to leave a hope 
that there will not be violent and obstinate resistance ; 
and this inevitably leading to corresponding violence in 
the assault, there must be a period of convulsion and dis- 
order before the change can be effected, and new foun- 
dations laid for another social edifice." Whether the 
civilising process will make the Japanese people wiser, 
better, or happier is the problem the answer to which can 
only be given in the future. Obviously we are not in a 
position to completely answer this question to-day. In- 
deed, before answering it at any time it might be advisable 
to invite the definition of wisdom and happiness. There 
were wisdom and happiness long prior to the time when 
the merchant and the missionary to whom Sir Rutherford 
Alcock refers battered and undermined Japan's feudalism 
and spirit of isolation. But, mirable dictu, Japan, instead of 
developing that obstructive principle which Sir Ruther- 
ford considered was so active and vigorous in the Japanese 
mind has, on the contrary, developed a spirit of adap- 
tation and assimilation of Western innovations, and in 
so doing has in all probability saved herself from the 
cupidity not only of Russia, but of other Western Powers. 
Sir Rutherford Alcock was not a psychologist, but quite 
evidently he too misread the Japanese mind and its 
workings. 

Truth to tell, Japan as it is to-day gives the lie to nearly 
all the prophets, and demonstrates that the psychologist 
is merely a charlatan. Her development, her evolution 
has proceeded along no particular lines. The fearful and 
awful rocks in the way, mediaevalism and feudalism, were 



274 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

got rid of almost with a stroke of the pen, and everybody 
in Japan, from the Emperor to the peasant, has adapted 
himself to the changed order of things. It is the most 
wonderful transformation scene in the history of the world, 
and it is still in progress. What the end of it all will be 
I have, bearing the dangers of prophecy well in mind, 
attempted to show in a final chapter. Bat I may remark 
that nothing in regard to the forces at work in Japan 
of recent years, and the outcome of the same so far gives 
me at any rate more unmixed pleasure than the way in 
which the theorists have been confounded, those men 
who cut and carve and label human beings, whether indi- 
vidually or in the aggregate, as if they were mere blocks 
of wood. The Oriental mind, we have been told, cannot 
do this ; Oriental prejudices and idiosyncrasies and modes 
of thought and hereditary influences will not admit of 
that ; the traditions of the Far East, that mysterious 
thing, will prevent the other — we have been told all this, 
I repeat, and told it ad nausemn. Japan as it is to-day 
refutes these prophecies, these dogmatic pronouncements, 
psychical and ethnological. The Japanese race, when re- 
garded from what I deem to be the only correct stand- 
point for forming a sound judgment as to the position 
it holds among the races of the world, namely, in respect 
of the size and convolution of the brain, occupies in my 
opinion a high, a very high place. All other factors, often 
given such undue prominence in forming an estimate as 
to the character of any people I regard as mere acci- 
dentals. The story of Japan during the last thirty or 
forty years affords ample proof of what I have said ; the 
position of thecountry to-day offers visible demonstration 
of it. Japan has reached and will keep the position of a 
great Power, and the Japanese that of a great people, just 



JAPAN AS IT IS TO-DAY 275 

because of the preponderating mental abilities of the 
population of the country, its capacity for assimilation, 
its desire for knowledge, its pertinacity, strenuousness, and 
aspirations to possess and acquire by the process of selec- 
tion the very best the world can give it. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

THE FUTURE OF JAPAN — PHYSICAL — MORAL — MENTAL 

I KNOW by experience, even if the history of the world 
had not furnished many examples to prove it, that 
prophecy is risky. It is a fascinating pastime inasmuch 
as it affords the imaginative faculties full scope, but at 
the same time it is a mistake to let the imagination run 
riot. I have no intention, in considering the future of 
Japan, of depicting an Arcadia or a Utopia the outcome 
of one's desire rather than of the knowledge that one 
possesses of the possibilities of the country and the belief 
that in due course those possibilities will become actu- 
alities. Of course I admit that I may be mistaken in my 
estimate of the future, but I think an estimate of the 
future can only be based on a knowledge of the present, 
and it is upon that knowledge that I mean to attempt 
some forecast of what I believe to be the destiny of Japan. 
" The Future of Japan " is a theme that has exercised 
the pens of many writers, who have given to the world 
many and most divergent views in regard thereto — the 
result, I think, of regarding the subject from a narrow or 
single point of view, instead of looking at it broadly, 
boldly, and dispassionately. In respect of a population 
of between forty and fifty millions in rapid process of 

276 



THE FUTURE OF JAPAN 277 

transformation and taking on perhaps rather hurriedly, 
and, it may be, some superfluous or unnecessary attributes 
of Western civilisation, it is not only possible but easy to 
light on many ludicrous incidents and draw absolutely 
false conclusions from them. One visitor to Japan, for 
example, who wrote a series of essays on that country, 
since produced in book form, the laudable object of which 
was to present to the British public the real Japan with a 
view of counteracting the effects of those " superficial 
narratives to be found by the dozen in circulating libraries 
of the personal views and experiences of almost every 
literary wayfarer who has crossed the Pacific," has fol- 
lowed this bad plan in his remarks on " The Future of 
Japan." Imitation for imitation's sake is, or was, in his 
opinion, a growing evil in Japan. A certain gentleman, 
he relates, a wealthy merchant of Osaka, desired to cele- 
brate the two hundredth anniversary of a copper mine 
coming into the possession of his family. The plan he 
finally decided to adopt was to present each of his three 
hundred employees with a swallow-tail coat. Another 
Japanese gentleman, who had fallen in with the habit of 
the New Year's Day call imitated from the Americans, 
improved upon it by leaving on his doorstep a large box 
with a lid and this notice above it: "To Visitors. I am out, 
but I wish you a Happy New Year all the same. N.B. — 
Please drop your New Year's Presents into the box." 
Over a well-known tobacconist's shop the writer of the 
book in question observed the following notice : " When 
we first opened our tobacco store at Tokio our establish- 
ment was patronised by Miss Nakakoshi, a celebrated 
beauty of Inamato-ro, Shin-yoshiwara, and she would 
only smoke tobacco purchased at our store. Through 
her patronage our tobacco became widely known, so we 



278 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

call it by the name of I ma Nakakoshi. And we beg to 
assure the public that it is as fragrant and sweet as the 
young lady herself. Try it and you will find our words 
prove true." Finally, over a pastry-cook's shop in Tokio 
he read and made a note of the following : " Cakes and 
Infections." 

Now what do these several trivial, indeed contemptible, 
anecdotes prove ? What arguments in regard to a nation 
of forty-seven millions of people can be bolstered up by 
instancing the imperfect acquaintance of a Japanese pastry- 
cook with the English language ? The writer does not in 
so many words delineate the future of Japan as it appears 
to him, but he suggests it, and his Japan of the future is 
quite evidently to be nothing more or less than a kind of 
international dustheap whereon Europe and America have 
dumped all that is bad and rotten and deplorable in their 
modern social and political life. Here is the inferential 
forecast of the gentleman in question : " When Japan 
rings with the rattle of machinery ; when the railway 
has become a feature of her scenery ; when the boiler- 
chimney has defaced her choicest spots, as the paper- 
makers have already obliterated the delights of Oji ; when 
the traditions of yashiki and shizoku alike are all finally 
engulfed in the barrack-room ; when her art reckons its 
output by the thousand dozen ; when the power in the land 
is shared between the politician and the plutocrat ; when 
the peasant has been exchanged for the " factory hand," 
the kimono for the slop-suit, the tea-house for the music- 
hall, the geisha for the lion comique, and the daimio for 
the beer-peer — will Japan then have made a wise bargain, 
and will she, looking backward, date a happier era from 
the day we forced our acquaintance upon her at the 
cannon's mouth ? " 



THE FUTURE OF JAPAN 279 

Criticism of this kind, if it may be dignified by that 
term, no doubt affords opportunity for what is considered 
smart writing, and enables the persons indulging in it to 
air their witticisms and show their sense of the humorous, 
but it not only serves no useful purpose, but, on the con- 
trary, is pernicious in its effects, inasmuch as it occasions, 
not unnaturally, a feeling of soreness on the part of those, 
whether individuals or a nation, who are made the subject 
of it. Japan has too often been the butt of the humourist. 
I have no desire to deprecate humour, which no doubt 
gives a savour to life, but that humour which is only 
exercised at the expense of others, in my opinion, needs 
reprobation. As I have said, Japan among nations has 
been subjected to too much of it, and it is to be hoped 
that in future writers about the country will endeavour to 
avoid making their little jokes, or serving up afresh the 
antiquated chestnuts of the foreign community. 

The future of Japan may, I think, be considered 
under some half-dozen headings : The physical improve- 
ment of the Japanese race ; Its moral advancement ; 
Its intellectual advancement ; Japan's national future ; 
Her political future ; and finally. The influence of the 
Japanese Empire on other Far Eastern races and on the 
world generally. 

As regards the physical improvement of the race, I 
admit this is a somewhat difficult subject in regard to 
which to make any forecast. The stature of the Japanese 
is undoubtedly small, and the chest measurement small 
likewise. At the same time, any one moving about Japan 
must have noticed the fact that there are quite a large 
number of very tall men and women in the country, and 
that a goodly proportion of the inhabitants compare 
favourably in their physical attributes with European 



280 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

people. As I have observed elsewhere in this book, the 
dietary of the Japanese race has for many centuries back 
been almost entirely a vegetarian one. I know very well 
that vegetarianism has its advocates, and some of the 
arguments put forward in support of it are plausible if not 
convincing. At the same time, I think, it cannot be denied 
that those races which have been in the habit of eating 
meat for many centuries have, as regards physique, demon- 
strated that whether man was or was not intended to be a 
carnivorous animal, his development into a carnivorous 
animal has at any rate succeeded in enhancing and de- 
veloping his physical powers. Of late years there has been 
possibly as the result of intercourse with Europeans, a 
large increase in the number of the inhabitants of Japan 
who eat meat This tendency on the part of the popula- 
tion is growing, and I believe in the course of compara- 
tively few years there will be a radical change in the dietary 
of the people. This change, if it be effected, must, I would 
suggest, have a material influence on their physique. We 
all know that food is essential for the building up of the 
human frame and its maintenance, and I think there are few 
people who would question the fact that the condition of 
the human frame, whether in individuals or the aggregates 
of individuals that we term nations, must be largely 
affected by the food partaken of. I, accordingly, look 
forward, not immediately of course, to a material change 
in the general physique of the Japanese people. I am 
not, as I know some persons are, of opinion that that 
change is likely to be brought about by intermarriage or 
unions of a temporary nature between Japanese and 
Europeans. There have been a .few marriages, and 
there have no doubt been a good many unions, but the 
effect on the national breed has been small, and though 



THE FUTURE OF JAPAN 281 

it may be to some extent greater in the future, I do 
not look in this direction for any alteration in the 
physical characteristics of the Japanese people. That 
alteration will, in my opinion, be brought about by a 
change in the food of the people. 

As regards the moral advancement of the Japanese 
race I shall say little, for the somewhat paradoxical 
reason that it is a matter on which so much might be 
said. Indeed, this is a subject on which a definition of 
the term moral might be advisable before entering into 
any prolonged consideration of it. I shall not attempt 
that definition, simply because I feel convinced that to 
do so would be to provoke controversy. As 1 have 
said in this book, moral, morality, and immorality are 
all terms that have to some extent lost their original 
meaning. I may say briefly in this connection that I 
use the term moral advancement simply and solely in 
respect of the practice of the duties of life from a high 
ethical point of view. That is, I know, a somewhat 
vague definition, but I think it will serve its purpose. 
Ever since Japan has been thrown open to foreigners we 
have heard a good deal about morality and immorality, 
both in the strict and the perverted sense of those 
words. The European who came there, male and female, 
was, or affected to be, shocked at the relations between 
the sexes he found prevailing. He saw prostitution 
recognised and regulated. He heard of, and in the old 
days possibly saw, something of phallic worship. He 
witnessed or heard of men and women making their 
ablutions together in public wash-houses, and he — some- 
times it was a she — affected to be horrified at such a pro- 
ceeding. Better, much better, it was inferred, the custom 
of the lower classes in England, never to wash at all, 



282 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

than this horrible outrage on public decency. And then 
the merchant or the trader who came to Japan, he 
also prated about commercial immorality, and the pre- 
valence of untruthfulness among the Japanese with 
whom he did business. And in other directions too 
there were criticisms passed upon Japanese manners and 
customs, and many of these were condemned and 
denounced as immoral or wicked very often for no 
better reason than that they differed from those that 
obtained in Europe. However much or little ground 
there may have been for these charges against the 
Japanese people, I am not now concerned to discuss. 
One thing I will remark — that the Japanese possess 
two religions which, whatever their effects and no matter 
to what extent superstition may have been engrafted 
on them, have always held up a high moral standard. 
And if one dips even cursorily into the writings of the 
ethical teachers of Japan in the past, we invariably find 
the inculcation of an exalted standard of morals. In- 
deed, the practice of the Japanese people at the present 
time, as in all times in regard to the relations between 
parents and children, of wife to husband, of the people 
to the State, have been beyond criticism. In these 
matters Western nations have much to learn from 
them. Since the opening of the country to Europe, 
the Japanese Government has shown itself alive to 
European criticism on many points. It has effectually 
stamped out phallic worship ; it has, in deference to 
European susceptibilities, abolished mixed bathing in 
the public wash-houses ; and in various other ways it 
has striven in the direction of raising the standard of 
moral conduct throughout the country. That it has not 
attempted to put down prostitution, but, on the contrary, 



THE FUTURE OF JAPAN 283 

has recognised and regulated it, has been made a charge 
against it. The Japanese Government has most likely- 
come to the conclusion that prostitution cannot be put 
down, and such being the case it has decided that, with 
a view of obviating those evils which are the out- 
come of it, the only alternative is to regulate it. I 
admit that in an ideal state of existence prostitution 
would not exist, but no country in the world has yet 
reached or approximated that ideal state. The evil of 
prostitution is just as flagrant in Europe as in the 
East, but Japan so far alone among the Great Powers 
of the world has seen fit to tackle this difficult and 
delicate matter, and to some extent regulate it. That 
her rulers look forward to the time when the Yoshi- 
wara shall have ceased to exist I firmly believe, and 
I am convinced that they mean to do everything 
possible towards that consummation. But the rulers 
of Japan are not mere sentimentalists ; they have to 
recognise facts, and recognising facts they have done 
what seems best to them under the circumstances. 

As regards commercial morality, I believe even the 
European merchants and traders in the country admit 
that there has of late years been a marked improvement. 
In old Japan commercialism was looked down upon. 
Making a profit out of buying and selling was regarded 
as degrading ; those who indulged in such practices were 
despised, and not unnaturally the trader, finding himself a 
member of a contemned class, lived down to the low level 
on which he had been placed. In old Japan traders, in 
the presence of the Samurai, were, when addressing him, 
required to touch the ground with their foreheads ; when 
talking to him they had to keep their hands on the ground. 
Such a state of things, of course, has long been effete, but 



284 THE EMPIKE OF THE EAST 

the influences thereof remained for a considerable time 
after the acts had ceased. There has now been effected 
a revulsion of feeling in such matters. Commerce is 
honoured, trade is esteemed, and the Japan of to-day is 
convinced of the fact that on her commerce, trade, and 
industries the future of the country largely depends. Men 
of the highest rank, men of the greatest culture, men of the 
deepest probity are now embarked in trade and commerce 
in Japan ; the whole moral atmosphere connected with 
trade has changed, and there are at the present time no 
more honourable men in the whole commercial world than 
those of Japan. In this matter there has undoubtedly been 
an enormous advance in ideas and ideals. This advance, 
I believe, is destined to extend in other directions — indeed, 
in every direction. The Japan of to-day has, I think, so 
far as I have been able to gauge it, a feeling — a deep feel- 
ing, which perhaps I can best describe as noblesse oblige. 
It is sensible of the position the country has attained ; it 
is full of hope and enthusiasm for the future thereof; it 
believes implicitly that it is incumbent on it not only to 
attain but to maintain a high moral standard in every 
direction. It has been urged as against the Japan of 
to-day by a writer on the subject that Spencer and Mill 
and Huxley have been widely read by the educated classes, 
and that Western thought and practice as to the structure 
of society and the freedom of the individual have been 
emphasised throughout the country. I confess to feeling 
no alarm in regard to the moral future of Japan because it 
has perused the works of the three philosophers named. 
It gives me no trepidation to read that Mill's work on 
" Representative Government " has been translated into a 
volume of five hundred pages in Japanese and reached its 
third edition. I am, on the contrary, pleased to learn that 



THE FUTURE OF JAPAN 285 

Japan of to-day is concerned about culture, desirous of 
reading the works of those great philosophers whose names 
are among the immortal. There are no principles enun- 
ciated in any of the books of Spencer, Mill, or Huxley that, 
so far as I know, can undermine the moral character of the 
Japanese. On the contrary, I believe that a perusal of 
the writings of those great men will tend to assist the 
Japanese into a clearer understanding of moral principles, 
and in a desire to apply them to the duties of life. I look 
forward with great hope and a pronounced confidence to 
the moral future of Japan. Everything that I have seen 
in the country, everything that I have been able to learn 
respecting the people thereof — the ideas prevailing, the 
teaching given in its schools and universities, the whole 
trend of thought in the land, the literature read and pro- 
duced, the aspirations, in fact, of the Japanese people 
to-day — lead me to think and to believe most firmly that 
in the Japan of the future we shall witness a nation on a 
higher moral plane than any of those with which the 
history of the world acquaints us. 

Closely connected with the moral advancement of Japan 
is its intellectual advancement. I have referred to the 
statement made by a writer that the Japan of to-day is 
addicted to reading the works of certain English philo- 
sophers, and that one of these books translated into 
Japanese had run through several editions. This fact is 
typical of the intellectual ferment, the thirst for knowledge 
of all kinds that exists in the country to-day. That craving 
is not for philosophical works alone ; it extends to and 
embraces every form of literature of an instructive or 
enlightening character. It is in evidence in the higher 
schools and the universities of the country ; it is to be 
witnessed in the many periodicals which exist for the pro- 



286 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

motion of culture and the spread of knowledge. This 
intellectual ferment, as I have, I think, appropriately 
termed it, is extending rapidly, and is, I believe, destined 
to assume much greater proportions. The literature of the 
world is at the present time literally being devoured by 
Young Japan. I do not regard this literary voracity as the 
mere outcome of curiosity, or as in any way symptomatic 
of mere mental unrest. Young Japan appears, like Lord 
Bacon, to take all knowledge for its field of study, and in 
accord with the philosophical principles of that great man, 
the principles of utility and progress, to be concerned with 
everything that can alleviate the sufferings and promote 
the comforts of mankind. Of course, at the present time 
this condition of craving for knowledge is confined, from 
the point of view of numbers, to a small portion of the 
people. But the intellectuals of every country are in a 
minority — in some countries in a miserable minority — and 
the influence they exercise is never proportionate to their 
numbers. At the same time the intellectuals of Japan are, 
in view of the fact that the country has for some short 
time been open to Western influences, an amazingly large 
proportion of the population. I am of opinion that this 
intellectual movement in Japan is destined to widen con- 
siderably, and that its influence on the people will be 
immense. During the whole history of the world the 
potency of mind over matter has been the greatest wonder. 
In these present days this potency is even more pro- 
nounced, and mere brute force is nowadays only made 
effective when it is influenced and regulated and organised 
by mind. I regard the intellectual development of Japan 
as one of the most pleasing features that have accrued from 
its contact with Western civilisation. I do not mean to 
suggest that there was an intellectual atrophy in the 



THE FUTURE OF JAPAN 287 

country prior to those influences making themselves felt, 
but there was an isolation which is never good for intel- 
lectual development. The broader the sympathies of 
nations, as of individuals, the wider their outlook, the 
better for their mental progress. When Japan was in a 
condition of isolation the literature available for her people 
was limited both in style and quantity. Her people now 
have at their disposal the intellect of the whole civilised 
world, the great thoughts of the great men of all ages. 
And it is pleasing to be able to relate that no more appre- 
ciative readers of the world's classics are to be found than 
the young intellectuals of Japan to-day. I have said that 
I regard this intellectual enthusiasm as one of the most 
pleasing features of modern Japan. That it is destined to 
have great results I am firmly convinced. I believe, and I 
am not naturally an optimist, that in the Japan of the 
future, the not far-distant future, the world is destined to 
see a nation not only morally but mentally great, a nation 
which will develop in conjunction those high moral qualities 
which will give it what I may term a pronounced, a well- 
defined character, and an intellectual greatness superior to 
that of ancient Greece and Rome, because restrained and 
illumined by the predominance and potency of moral 
characteristics which those great nations did not possess. 



CHAPTER XXV 

THE FUTURE OF JAPAN — NATIONAL — POLITICAL — ITS 
INFLUENCE ON THE WORLD 

I HAVE now come to my final chapter, in which I 
propose to offer some remarks embodying my opinion 
as to the future of Japan from a national and political 
standpoint, as also her influence upon the world generally. 
The theme is a great one, and would require a volume for 
its proper treatment. Obviously, therefore, it cannot be 
dealt with other than cursorily in the few pages I am 
about to devote to it. 

Readers of this book will, I think, have had borne in 
/ upon them the fact that I am not only an ardent admirer 
' of, but a believer in Japan and the Japanese. I utterly 
scout the idea put forward by some writers that what they 
have taken on of Western civilisation is either a veneer or 
a varnish, or that the advancement of the nation resembles 
the growth of the mushroom and is no more stable. I 
regard the Japanese as a serious people and the nation as 
having a serious purpose. If I did not there would be no 
need for me to dilate upon its future, for the simple reason 
that its future would be incomprehensible, and accordingly 
be absolutely impossible to forecast. As it is, it appears to 
me that the future of Japan is as plain as the proverbial 



THE FUTURE OF JAPAN 289 

pike-staff. I say this with a full knowledge of the dangers 
attendant on prophecy and the risk to the reputation of 
the vaticinator should events prove that he was mistaken 
in his prevision or erroneous in his conclusions. 

I have traced in these pages what I may term the 
national development of Japan ; how, after two and a half 
centuries of isolation, it, recognising the force of circum- 
stances, determined to impose upon its own ancient 
civilisation all that was best in that of the West, and, 
having so determined, took practical and effective steps 
to that end. What is to be the result of it all, the result, 
that is to say, not upon a few thousands, or hundreds of 
thousands, of Japanese, but upon the nation as a whole ? 
Will these accretions on the old civilisation of the land 
mould and influence and alter the people generally, or will 
the effect be circumscribed and merely develop a class 
standing out apart from the great body of the people and 
affecting a superiority because of its Western culture ? 
In my opinion the result will be not partial, but universal, 
though not immediate. There are, of course, large portions 
of Japan, many millions of its population, upon whom the 
opening up of the country has, as yet had little, if any, 
effect. Many of the Japanese people have hardly ever 
seen a foreigner, or, if they have, have viewed him with no 
little curiosity. They certainly have not realised, and 
possibly have not suspected, the effect which foreign 
influences are likely to have upon this Land of the Rising 
Sun. But influences, we know, may be effective without 
being felt, and I am convinced, from what I have seen and 
heard and the investigations I have been enabled to make, 
that the Japan of to-day is not only in transition — in rapid 
transition — but that its evolution is sure and certain, and 
that the result thereof will be the ultimate development of 



290 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

a nation which will assuredly impress the world and will 
very probably have a much more potent effect upon it than 
mere numbers would account for. It is the building up of 
a nation such as this that I confidently look forward to in 
the future. We of this generation may not, probably will 
not, live to see it — we certainly shall not in its ultimate 
development — but we can already see at work the forces 
which are to produce it, and the eye of faith, of a reason- 
able faith, built not on mere surmise or ardent hopes, but 
upon the expectation of a reasonable issue to the factors 
at work producing it, assures us that the Japan of the 
future will, as I have said, be a nation whose light will 
shine, and shine brilliantly, before the whole world. 

And as regards the political future of this wonderful 
country, I feel I can speak with equal confidence. What a 
marvellous change has come over this land, or our concep- 
tion of this land, since the first British Minister resident 
there penned his impressions on approaching it. " A 
cluster of isles," he remarked, " appeared on the farthest 
verge of the horizon, apparently inhabited by a race at 
once grotesque and savage — not much given to hospitality, 
and rather addicted to martyrising strangers of whose creed 
they disapproved. Thus much stood out tolerably dis- 
tinctly, but little else that was tangible. Severance from 
all social ties, isolation from one's kind, and a pariah 
existence, far away from all centres of civilisation — far 
beyond the utmost reach of railroad or telegraph — came 
much more vividly before me ; and in Rembrandt masses 
of shade, with but one small ray of light, just enough to 
give force and depth to the whole — a sense of duty, a duty 
that must be done, whether pleasant or otherwise, and about 
which there was no choice. What a world of anxiety and 
doubt the consciousness of this saves us ! " This exordium 



THE FUTUEE OF JAPAN 291 

reads more like the utterance of a man being led out to 
execution than a Minister going to a country possessing an 
ancient civilisation — a civilisation which had had its efifect 
on every phase of the national life. What would not many 
of us now give to have been in the place of Sir Rutherford 
Alcock, visiting this land shortly after it had been opened 
after 250 years of isolation ! How we should revel in its 
artistic treasures, which had not then been dispersed all 
over the world ; and what pleasure we should have taken 
in seeing feudalism otherwise than in the pages of history ! 
And yet Sir Rutherford Alcock was only expressing the 
opinions of his time. He could see nothing in Japan but 
a grotesque and uncivilised people whom the Western 
nations had to deal with in a peremptory manner. What 
a change there has been in the intervening forty-four 
years ! Japan now stands out prominently among the 
nations, her political future appears to be secure, and it is 
none the less secure because of the difficulties she has 
encountered and overcome in attaining her present position. 
I emphasise all the more readily her present and future 
political position since, as I have previously observed in 
this book, I believe that that position will be one exercised 
for the good of the world. I look upon Japan as a great 
civilising factor in the future of the human race because, 
strong though she is and stronger though she will become, 
I am positive that her strength will never be put forward 
for any selfish aims or from any improper motives. It is 
for this reason that I welcome the alliance with Great 
Britain. I hope that alliance will not be limited to any 
term of years, but will be extended indefinitely, because in 
it I see a prospect and an assurance for the peace of the 
world. 

Inseparable from any allusion to the political future of 



292 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

Japan is some consideration of the influence that she is 
likely to exercise upon the world generally. Any person 
taking up an atlas and looking at the position occupied 
by Japan must, if he is of a thoughtful disposition, be 
impressed by it. Take the question of the Pacific — one 
which, in view of the change in the policy of the United 
States of recent years, must assume considerable import- 
ance in the future. There are various factors which must 
be taken into account here. The construction of the 
Panama Canal is one, the completion of the Siberian 
Railway another, the development of Canada and the 
completion of the railway lines that now penetrate nearly 
every part of that vast dominion is a third. Japan is now, 
in fact, the very centre of three great markets — those of 
Europe, Asia, and America. In the struggle for the 
mastery of the Pacific, which appears certain to come, 
and will probably come sooner than many people suppose, 
Japan is certain to take a momentous part. Not only in 
respect of her own islands, but in reference to the great 
island of Formosa, ceded to her by China as the outcome 
of the war with that Power, Japan occupies a unique and a 
most important position in the Pacific. As regards the 
mastery of the Pacific, in reference to which so much has 
been written and so much speculation, a large amount of 
it unprofitable, has been indulged, I shall say but little. 
On the shores of the Pacific Russia still remains a power, 
which, though defeated by Japan, is still one of consider- 
able importance. On the other side of the ocean there is 
the United States, which, as some persons think, has given 
hostages to fortune by annexing the Philippine Islands. 
England, moreover, claims consideration in respect not 
only of her possessions in the Straits Settlements, Hong 
Kong, &c., but by reason of her great Navy and, I may 



THE FUTURE OF JAPAN 293 

add, her alliance with Japan. Then, too, there are China, 
and, if of less importance, France and Germany. Of all 
these Japan, in my opinion, occupies the commanding 
position. She not only occupies the commanding position, 
but she is, I think, from various causes, bound to play a 
great part in the future mastery of the Pacific. 

It is apparent that in the attainment and assertion of that 
mastery naval power must have a great and predominant 
part, and it is to the development of her naval power 
that Japan is devoting all her energies. Like Great 
Britain, from whom she has learned many lessons in 
this respect, she sees that an island empire can only 
maintain its position by possessing an overpowering 
naval force. As I have said before, I am fully con- 
vinced of the fact that in the development of her 
Navy, as of her Army, Japan has no aggressive designs. 
Her aspiration is the security and prevention from 
invasion of her island and the preservation of her 
national independence. At the same time, situated as 
she is in the great Pacific Ocean, she has palpably, 
from her position, rights and responsibilities and 
duties outside the immediate confines of her Empire. 
That, I think, will be admitted by any one. The 
phrase, "spheres of influence" has become somewhat 
hackneyed of recent years, and it has occasionally been 
used to give colour to aggressive designs. There may, 
too, be people who would say that spheres of influence 
is not a term that can properly be applied to a great 
water-way such as the Pacific. I am not, however, on 
the present occasion arguing with pedants. What I 
desire is to broadly emphasise the fact that in the 
future of the Pacific — those innumerable isles dotted 
here and there over its surface, Japan is a factor that 



294 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

cannot be left out of account. Year by year her 
position there is increasing in importance. Steamers ply 
to her ports weekly from Vancouver and San Francisco. 
The Japanese population are emigrating to the Pacific 
shores of America, the trade and commerce of Japan 
with the American Continent are growing and broad- 
ening. Everything in fact tends to show that within a 
comparatively short space of time Japan will have 
asserted her position, not only as a Great World 
Power, but as a great commercial nation in the 
Pacific. What is to be the outcome of it all? is the 
question that will naturally arise to the mind. I think 
that one outcome of it will be, as I have shown, the 
capture by Japan of the Chinese trade, if not in its 
entirety, at any rate in a very large degree. Another 
outcome will, I believe, be the enormous development of 
Japanese trade with both the United States and Canada. 
Some people may remark that these are not essen- 
tially political matters, and that I am somewhat 
wandering from my point in treating of them in connec- 
tion with the influence of Japan upon the world 
generally. I do not think so. A nation may assert 
its influence and emphasise its importance to just as 
great an extent by its trade as by the double-dealings 
X)f diplomacy or by other equally questionable methods. 
Of one thing I am convinced, and that is that the 
influence of Japan upon the rest of the world will 
be a singularly healthy one. That country has fortu- 
nately struck out for itself, in diplomacy as in other 
matters, a new line. It has not behind it any tradi- 
tions, nor before it prejudices wherewith to impede its 
progress. The diplomacy of Japan will, accordingly, be 
conducted in a straightforward manner, and its record 



THE FUTURE OF JAPAN 295 

so far in this respect has, I think, provided a splendid 
object-lesson for the rest of the world. The influence 
of Japan upon the other nations will I hope, as I 
believe, continue to be of a healthy nature. If that 
country sets forth prominently the fact that while 
aspiring to be great, it possesses none of those attri- 
butes that we have previously associated with great 
nations, the attributes of greed, covetousness, aggressive- 
ness, and overbearing — an arrogant attitude in regard to 
weaker Powers, it will have performed a notable service 
in the history of the world. For myself I have no 
doubt whatever that Japan will teach this lesson, and 
in teaching it will have justified the great place that 
she has attained among the nations of the earth. 

I have now concluded the task that I set before myself 
My readers must be judges as to the measure of success, 
if any, I have attained in it. To attempt a survey of 
the past, present, and future of a great and ancient nation 
within the limited space at my disposal has been by 
no means easy. Every subject I have had under 
consideration has invited discursiveness, and tempted 
me to linger and dilate upon it, and it alone. The 
fascination of Japan must be upon every one, or almost 
every one, who writes about it, and that fascination is, 
I may observe, like the art of the country, catholic. 
Whether we deeply and exhaustively investigate one 
subject and one subject only, or take a hurried glance 
at every or almost every subject, we feel a glamour in 
respect of this wonderful country and its equally wonder- 
ful people. While I have endeavoured to prevent this 
fascination, this glamour, affecting my judgment, I am 
not ashamed to plead guilty to, but am, in fact, rather 
proud of it. Indeed, I shall feel gratified if a perusal 



296 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

of this book induces a few persons here and there to study- 
still more deeply the history, the religion, the art of 
Japan, and the whole trend of events in that country 
during the past forty years. Every phase of the national 
life lends itself to investigation, and will, I feel sure, 
reward the investigator. He will, unless he be a person of 
a singularly unemotional disposition, utterly lacking in all 
those finer feelings which especially distinguish man from 
the brutes, hardly fail of being, before he has proceeded 
far in his investigations, quickly under the alluring 
influences of this Far Eastern land, entering heartily, 
zealously, and enthusiastically into its national life and the 
developments thereof in all their various ramifications. 

The fascination that Japan has exercised upon writers 
such as Arnold and Hearn is what it does, though no 
doubt in a smaller degree, upon less gifted men. It is 
given to few to drink in and absorb the subtle charm 
of the country so thoroughly and express it so graphically 
and delicately, with such beauty and power and withal so 
much truth as have those brilliant men. I regard this 
great and growing fascination of Occidentals for this 
fair Eastern land and its inhabitants as a long step in the 
direction of the realisation of the brotherhopd of man ; that 
ideal state of things which we hope for so expectantly, 
longingly, perhaps too often sceptically ; that happy 
time when national prejudices, jealousies, and animosities 
will have faded into oblivion, when nations by the simple 
process of studying one another, as Japan has been studied 
of recent years, will get to understand one another, when 
the literature and art of nations will be no longer merely 
national, but world possessions, when wars shall have 
ceased and the policy of aggression have come to be 
regarded as an evil thing, when, in a word, the brotherhood 



THE FUTURE OF JAPAN 297 

of man shall be no longer an idle dream, a mere specula- 
tive aspiration which no practical person ever expected to 
see realised, but an actuality within measurable distance 
of being accomplished. All these things may as yet be 
dreams, but let us dream them. The more they are 
dreamed, the more likely is the prospect of their realisa- 
tion. One thing at least fills me with ardent hope, and that 
is the Japan, as I see it to-day, compared with the Japan 
of forty years ago. If such an upheaval is possible for 
one nation, who shall put any bounds to the potentialities 
of the world ? So let us dream our dreams, and in our 
waking moments cast afar our eyes upon the land of the 
Rising, aye, now the Risen Sun, take heart and dream 
again in quiet confidence that some day, in some future 
reincarnation, mayhap, we shall witness the realisation of 
our hopes, and see that after all our dreams were merely 
an intelligent anticipation of the glad time coming. 



INDEX 



Acrobatic performances, 199 
Actresses, 199 
Adams, Will, 5 

Advancement, Intellectual, 279, 
285 

Physical, 279 

Moral, 279, 281 
Advertising in newspapers, 205 
Agriculture, Thunberg's account 
of, 8 

System of, 23 
Ainos, the, 37, 170, 250 
Aino Preservation Society, 251 
Alcock, Sir Rutherford, 6, 272, 273, 

291 
Alloys, making of, 157 
America, United States of, 293 
Amusements of Japanese, 68 
Ancestor worship, 73 
Arboriculture, 86 
Archery, 72 
Architecture, 167 

Art in, 167, 175 

Modern, 173 

Korean, 172 
Arita, 142 

Army, Japanese, 117 
Armour, 154 



Arnold, Sir Edwin, 193, 194, 267, 

296 
Art, Japanese, 131, 149 
Art in Architecture, 175 
Art Treasures, 165 
Artistic ideals, 163 
Artists, Japanese, 133 

Lacquer 137 
Asiatic Continent, proximity to, 

17 
Aston, Mr., 194 

Athletics, 113 

B 

Banks, Japanese, 97 

European, 97 
Baths, 65, 75 

Bathing, mixed, abolished, 282 
Bear, black, 27 
Bedding, 65 
Bells, 153 

Beresford, Lord Charles, 229 
Bills, Treasury, 94 
Bird, Miss, 212, 217 
Birds, 27 

Bizen ware, 144, 145 
Bon Matsuri, 71 
" Break-up of China," 229 
Brinkley, Captain, 207 



299 



300 



THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 



Bronze work, 153 
Bungo, Prince of, 2 
Buddha, statues of, 151 
Buddhism, 39, 40, 41 

Influences of, 48, 77 
Buddhist religion, command- 
ments of, 42 



" Capital of the Tycoon," 6, 272, 

273 
Canada, 292 

Castles, feudal, 171 

Cavalry, 171 

Lack of horses, 26 
Cemeteries, 73 
Ceramic ware, 140 

Decoration of, 145 
Cereals, 23 
Ceremonies, tea, 141 
Chamberlain, Basil Hall, 44, 131, 

152, 250 
Chastity of women, 217 
Children, 67 

Attendance at school, 104 
China, 221 

War with, 93, 208 

Japanisation of, 224 

Awakening of, 229 
China ware, see porcelain and 

pottery 
Chinese indemnity, 228 

legal system, 186 
Chiuzenji, Lake, 26 
Christenings, 72 
Christian Missions, 46, 47, 239, 

256 
Christianity, conversion of Japan- 
ese to, 3, 261 
Cleanliness of people, 75 
Climate, 19 



Clothing of Japanese, 68 

Coal, 22 

College, Police, and Prison, 188 

Commerce, 80 

Commercial morality, 236 

Community, foreign, 235, 239 

Confucianism, 39 

Conscription, system of, 119 

Constitution of Japan, 49, 58, 59 

Copper, 157 

Copper ware, 153 

Costume, Japanese, 161 

Cotton, 23 

Court, Supreme, of China and 

Japan, 231 
Courts, Consular, 231 
Courts, Japanese, 234, 235 
Crane, Walter, 132 
Curios, 161 
Curriculum, school, 105 



D 

Dai Butsus, 151 

Daimios, 51, 139, 155, 158, 185 

Dalny, 17 

Daynogawa, River, 26 

Death penalty, 190 

Debates, parliamentary, 57 

Debt, National, 91, 95 

Decoration of ceramic ware, 145 

De Fonblanque, 138 

Descent of Japanese Sovereigns, 

52 
Development of Japan, 289 
Dickins, F. V., 232, 240 
Diet, Imperial Japanese, 52, 53 
Diosy, Mr. Arthur, 213 
Diplomacy, methods of, 294 
Diseases, 20, 66 
Douglas, Admiral Sir A. L., 126 



INDEX 



301 



Drama, the Japanese, 193, 198 
Dress of the Japanese, 68 
Dresser, Dr., 168, 169 
Dutch, their settlement at Decima, 

3, 25, 134, 142 
Duties, Customs, 233 

E 

Earthenware, see Pottery and 

Porcelain 
Earthquakes, 19 
Education, 102 
Education, Board of, 103 
Electors, Japanese, qualifications 

of, 55 
Electoral districts, 55 
Elgin, Lord, 124 
Embroidery, silk and satin, 161 
Emperor, 51, 52 

Position of, 60 
English officers, 125 
Espionage, elaborate system of, 

10 
Europeans in Japan, 230 
Europeanising of Japan, 230 
Evergreens, Japanese, 24 
Exports and Imports, 81, 83 
Expulsion of foreigners from 

Japan, 3 



Fascination of Japan, 295, 296 
Fauna of Japan, 27 
Feast of Dolls, 71 

of Flags, 70 
Festivals and feasts, 69 
Feudal system in Japan, 50 
Financial and Economical Annual, 

Fish, 24 



Flora of Japan, 24 

Flowers, 73 

Food, 66 

Foreigners in Japan, 231 

Foreign community, 235, 239 

Foreign market, manufacture of 

articles for, 146 
Foreign troops in Japan, 234 
Forests, 22, 86 
Formosa, 17, 292 
France, 293 
Fruit, Japanese, 23 
Fuji-yama, 18, 138 
Furniture, household, 65 
Future of Japan, 274 

Political, 279, 288, 290 

National, 288 



Gardens, Japanese, 75 

Geisha, The, 213 

Generals, Japanese, 122 

Germany, 225, 293 

German Emperor, 222 

Girls, schools for, 106, 114 

Gold, 157 

Gordon, General, 228 

Government, constitution of, 52 

Great Britain, 207, 293 

Gregory XIII., mission from Japan 

to, 3 
Griffis, 155 
Grotesque in Japanese art, 135, 

145 

H 

Hair, Mr. Thomas, 55 
Hakodate, 18, 254, 256 

Battle of, 125 
Hara-Kiri, 154, 265 
Harbours, 21 



302 



THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 



Harvest festival, 70 

Hawes, Lieut. A. G. S., R.M.L.I., 

126 
Health of the people, 20 
Hearn, Lafcadio, 152, 258, 267, 296 
Heian period, 195 
Hill, Dr. G. Birnie, R.N., 128 
History, Japanese, i 
Hizen ware, 145 
Holidays in Japan, 69 
Hong-Kong, 292 
Honshiu, 17 
Horses, 26, 121 
Houses, Japanese, 64, 170 

I 

Images, carving of, 158 

Imari ware, 140, 142 

Industries, 80 

Influence of Japan, 279, 288 

Inland Sea, 21 

Intellectual advancement, 279, 285 

Iron, 157 

Irrigation, 23 

Ise ware, 140 

Ito, Marquis, 81 

Ivory, carvings in, 149 

Iwasaki, Mr., 129 

J 

Japan, Constitution of, 49, 58, 59 
Development of, 289 
English newspapers in, 207 
Europeans in, 230 
Europeanising of, 230 
Expulsion of foreigners from, 

3 
Fascination of, 295, 296 

Fauna of, 27 

Feudal system in, 50 



Japan (continued) — 
Flora of, 24 
for the Japanese, 242 
Foreigners in, 231 
Foreign troops in, 234 
Future of, 274, 279, 288, 290 
Holidays in, 69 
Missionaries in, 46, 47, 239, 

256 
Naval Officer's description of, 

II 
Occidentilation of, 269 
Portuguese visits to, 2 
Present position of, 263 
Press, " Yellow," in, 206 
Religions of, 39 
Tourists in, 26, 241 
Trade of China, capture by, 

227, 294 
Transition of, 274 
Vice in, 212, 217 
Young, 270, 287 
Japan Times, The, 202 
Japanese, amusements of, 68 
Army, 117 
art, 131, 149 
artists, 133 
banks, 97 
Conversion of, to Christianity, 

3,261 
Clothing of, 68 
Constitution of, 49, 58, 59 
costume, 161 
courts, 234, 235 
Descent of Sovereigns, 52 
Diet, Imperial, 52, 53 
drama, 193, 198 
Dress of, 68 

electors, qualifications of, 55 
evergreens, 24 
fruit, 23 



INDEX 



303 



Japanese (continued) — 

gardens, 75 

Generals, 122 

grotesque in art, 135, 145 

history, i 

houses, 64, 170 

language, 33, 34, 109 

legal system, 187 

literature, 37, 193 

morality, 13, 211 

commercial, 236, 283 

Navy, 117, 123 

oligarchy, 61 

paper, 87 

Parliament, 56 

people, 63 

pictures, 158 

pillow, 65 

plays, 199 

Psychology of, 264 

race, 29, 30 

schools, 104 

subjects, 53 
Jinrickshas, 182 

K 

Kaemfer, 5, 30, 39, 153 
Kaga ware, 140, 144 
Kakerponos, 65, 160 
Ken sect, 44 
Kiusiu, 17 
Kobe, 25 
Korea, 172, 262 
Korean architecture, 172 

potters, 141 
Kumoto, Mr., 202, 203 
Kurile Isles, 17 
Kutania ware, 145 
Kyoto, 25, 158, 181 
Kyoto ware, 140, 144, 145 



Labour question, 88 

organisations, 88 
Labour World newspaper, 88 
Lacquer, 135 

artists, 137 
Language, Japanese, charac- 
teristics of, 33 

Origin of, 34 

Educational difficulties, 109 
Law and order, 185 
Legal system, Japanese, 187 
Letters, number posted, 178 
Literature, Japanese, 37, 193 
Loans, 90, 92 
Loo-Choo Islands, 17 
Loti, Pierre, 213 
Luxury, absence of, 74 



M 

Macao, 142 

Machinery, manufacture of, 81 

" Madame Chrysantheme," 213 

Magazines, 207 

Makimonos, 160 

Manufactures, 83 

Marco Paolo, i 

Marks on pottery and porcelain, 

148 
Marriages, 72 
Matches, 96 
Mercantile Marine, 129 
Metals, 21, 157 
Metal work, 153 

workers, 156 

industries, decline in, 157 
Metallurgists, 152 
Mikado, 50, 51 ; also see Emperor 
Mineral wealth, 21, 157 



304 



THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 



Minister, British, at Japanese 

Court, 239 
Missionaries in Japan, 46, 47, 239, 
256 

in China, 225 
Mitake, Mount, 18 
Mitsui, house of, 97 
Mitsui Bussan Kwiasha, 99 
Mitsu Bishi Company, 129 
Monkey, red-faced, 27 
Morality, Japanese, 13, 211 

Commercial, 236, 283 
Moral advancement, 279, 281 
Moral code, educational, 1 10 
Mountains, 18 

Municipalities, European, 232 
Music, 69 

N 

Nagasaki, 21, 25 
Nagoya, 25 

Castle at, 171 
Nara, Temple of, 167 
Navy, Japanese, 117, 123 
Naval officer's description of 

Japan, 11 
Netsukes, 149, 150 
"New Far East," 213 
New Year's Day, 69 
Newspapers, 89, 200 

Circulation of, 205 

English, in Japan, 207 
News agencies, 204 
Nikko, 26 

Pagoda at, 169 

Temples at, 173, 174 
Nippon, 17 

Nippon Yusen Kaisha, 129 
" No," the, 200 
Notes, bank, 93 



O 

Oligarchy, Japanese, 61 
Oxen, 27 



Pacific, mastery of, 292 
Pagodas, 171 
Painting, 158 

Schools of, 159 

Western influences on, 159 
Panama Canal, 292 
Paper, Japanese, 87 
Paper money, 13 
Parkes, Sir Harry, 240 

Life of, 240 
Parliament, Japanese, 56 
Parties and party system, 58 
Passports, 233 
Peers, House of, 53 
People, Japanese, life and habits, 

63 
Petroleum, 86 
Phallic worship, 281 
Philippine Islands, 292 
Philologists andjapanese language, 

33 
Philosophers, English, widely read, 

284, 285 

Philosophy 6i iiie, 78 

Physical advancement, 279 

Physical features of country, 17 

Physique, 112 

Pictures, Japanese, 158 

Pigs, 27 

Pillow, Japanese, 65 

Plays, Japanese, 199 

Poetry, 194 

in newspapers, 205 

Police, 188 

PoHtical future, 279 



INDEX 



305 



Population, 17 
Porcelain, 140, 142, 145 

Modern, 147 

Marks on, 148 
Port Arthur, 17 
Portuguese visits to Japan, 2 
Postal service, 177 

orders, 178 
Post-office business, 178 

Savings Bank, 179 
Post-offices, foreign, 232 
Potters, Korean, 141 
Pottery, 140 

Marks on, 148 
Press, "Yellow," in Japan, 206 

Functions of, 210 

Newspaper, 202 
Prisons, 189 
Prison system, 190 
Privy Council, 59 
Prostitution, 215, 283 
Punch, Yokohama, 209 
Punishments, 190 
Psychology of Japanese, 264 

R 

Race, Japanese, its origin, 29 
Theories regarding, 30 

Railways, 25, 176 

Raku ware, 140, 145 

Rein, Professor, 19 

Religions of Japan, 39 

influence on people, 76 

Representatives, House of, 53, 55 

Resources of country, 90 

Revenue, loi 

Revolution of 1868, 21, 165, 186, 
197, 203 

Rhus Vernicifera, 22, 138 

Rice, 23, 84 



Rivers, 19 

Royal Family, style and address 

of, defined, 59 
Russia, 292 

Russia, war with, 120, 127, 221 
Ryder, Admiral Sir A. P., 240 



Sake, 25 

St. Francis Xavier, 2, 41, 45, 47, 

134, 260, 261, 271 
Sakhalin, 17, 18 
Salt, 87 

Samurai, 155, 236, 283 
San Francisco, 294 
Satin embroidery, 161 
Satsuma, Prince of, 134 

ware, 140, 143, 144, 145 
Savings Banks, Post-office, 179 
Scabbards, sword, 155 
Scenery, 25 
Schools, Japanese, 104 

for girls, 106, 114 

Higher, 107 

Technical, 108 

of painting, 159 

of progressive art, 147 
Sculpture, 149 
Seto ware, 145 
Shampooing, 75 
Sheep, 27 

Shiba, temples at, 158, 173, 174 
Shikoku, 17 
Shingon Yoko sect, 44 
Shinto temples, 45 
Shintoism, 39, 40, 41 

Influences of, 48, 77 
Shirakawa, Emperor, 42 
Shogun, 51 
Shrines, 77 
Siberian railway, 292 



306 



THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST 



Silk, 83 

embroidery, 161 

-worms, 84 
Silver, 157 
Smoking, 66 
Snakes, 27 

Social intercourse, 237 
Socialism, 89 

State, 82 
Spheres of influence, 293 
Stonewall Jackson, 125 
Straits Settlements, 292 
Sugar, 87 
Subjects, Japanese, rights and 

duties of defined, 53 
Swords, 154 

Abolition of wearing of, 155 

Accessories, 156 
Sword-makers, 155 



Tea, 24, 95 

ceremonies, 141 

houses, 24 

industry, 86 
Tea Traders' Association, 85 
Telegrams, 180 
Telegraphs, 179 
Telephones, 180 
Temperature of Japan, 20 
Temples, Buddhist, 171, 173, 174 

Shinto, 171 

Some Buddhist, a visit to, 244 

Construction of , 158 
Tendai sect, 44 
Territoriality, extra, 232, 235 
Theatre, 68, 199 
" Things Japanese," 131 
Thunberg, 6 
Tin, 157 
Tobacco, 66, 82, 86, 149 



Tokio, 20, 25, 181 
Tokugawa period, 191 
Tooth-powder, 162 
Tourists in Japan, 26, 241 
Trade, 80 

Chinese, capture by Japan, 
227, 294 
Traders, 236, 237 
Tramways, 181 
Transition of Japan, 274 
Treasures, art, 165, 168 
Trees, 22 

Tsu-Shima, 18, 240 
Turanian race, 33 
Tycoon, 11, 12, 13, 51 
Typhoons, 21 

U 

Utilitarianism in art, 143 

" Unbeaten Tracks in Japan," 212 

United States of America, 293 

export of tea to, 85 
University, Imperial, 107 
Universities, 107, 116 



Vancouver, 2^ 
Vice in Japan, 212, 217 
Vladivostock, 18 
Volcanoes, 18 

W 

War with China, 93, 208 
Russia, 120, 127, 221 
Ware, ceramic, 140 
Wergman Mr., 209 
Whistler, Mr., 160 
White peril, 227 
Wild animals, 27 



INDEX 



307 



Wild birds, 27 

Wilson, Admiral Sir A. K., 126 

Wolf, 27 

Women, position of, 67 

Wrestling, 72 

X 

Xavier, St. Francis, 2, 41, 45, 47 
134, 260, 261, 271 



" Yellow peril," the, 222, 226 

Yesso, 17, 250 

Yokohama, 25, 234 

Yokosko, dockyard at, 123 

Yomuri, 202 

Yoshiwara, 215, 216, 218, 220 

239 
Young Japan, 270, 287 



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UNWIN BBOTHEBS, LIMITED, 
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